Becoming the Shadow
by Dimitri61
Summary: *sequel to Under the Shadow and Above the Shadow* The long awaited final chapter in the Shadow Trilogy. Dimitri and Link returned peace to Hyrule after the second Twili Incident and all is finally pure again. But there remains one threat to the kingdom
1. Prologue

Five years ago, the second "Twili Incident" occurred, claiming the lives of several thousands of citizens of Hyrule. Princess Zelda was killed through the treachery of the once "Great Fairy," now simply known as "The Traitor." Zelda was brought back as the second Great Fairy and Protector of Hyrule. The Traitor brought the dark king Ganon back from the Sacred Realm into the Twilit Realm. They corrupted the souls of the four resistance members Ashei, Rusl, Shad, and Auru. This handful of individuals wreaked havoc on the realm of Hyrule.

The lost hero of the first "Twili Incident," Dimitri resurfaced along with his brother Link, the original victor over Ganon. These two quelled the Twili threat and returned the Resistance members to their Hylian selves. Dimitri personally killed Ganon and his former lover, the Traitor. Zelda reigned over Hyrule from the unknown position of Great Fairy.

Dimitri fell in love with Ashei of the resistance while Link took his lover Midna, the Twili princess as his wife. These four were granted immortality for their services in the name of Hyrule and became known as the "Kings of Fate."

The events that unfold now bring to light that maybe Dimitri's godliness and flawlessness were only a façade, hiding the slumbering demon within him. A demon that will bring the downfall of the once eternal kingdom of Hyrule.


	2. Part One

Sunlight shone down in streaks that steadily climbed up the walls as the day went by. Dimitri lay motionless for nearly three hours, careful as to not disturb his sleeping companion. Soon the sunlight was molding itself to the blankets and sheets that covered them. When the sunlight reached his eyes, he shifted slightly and drew closer to his lover.

"Good morning, Demi." Ashei felt his large, muscular arms around her as she woke up. It was an embrace she had never wanted to leave, ever since he held her before she gave her life for him during the first "Twili Incident." He pressed against her and she felt his breathing on her neck. "Did you have more nightmares?"

Dimitri said nothing and instead kissed her shoulder. She turned to face him and kissed him back.

"Yeah… they won't stop…" Dimitri admitted. He'd been having nightmares lately, feeling the guilt of having killed his former lover, the Great Fairy. But he was much better off now with Ashei. She was perfect in every way.

"I'm sorry Demi. I don't know what to tell you." She held him closer against her bare chest. "I wish I could take them all away."

"I wouldn't want you to have them. It's too much for me as is…" Dimitri had always thought he was mentally weak while maintaining perfect physical strength. In reality, time had never seen someone so strong. He was the epitome of strength, cunning, speed, and intelligence.

"What do you want to do today?" Ashei whispered into his ear. Dimitri remembered what they had done the night before. He put his lips to her ear.

"Whatever you want to do." He smiled.

"Ok." Ashei pushed him over on his back and got on top of him. She felt his scarred muscles against her pale, smooth skin. She kissed him deeply and passionately, sharing another moment like they did nearly every day.

Dimitri bit Ashei's neck and felt her nails in his back. They rolled, leaving Dimitri on top.

"Hey Dimitri!!" A voice was heard from the other side of their door that was accompanied by knocking. Dimitri ignored it and focused on Ashei, who had her nails in his back, freeing his blood. The feeling was welcome and enjoyed.

"Dimitri! Are you in there, Bro?" Dimitri's younger brother Link waited on the other side of the door.

"Busy!" Ashei found room to yell as Dimitri kissed her neck and collar.

"It's important!" Link called back. Dimitri let out an annoyed sigh and kissed Ashei passionately one more time.

"Coming." Dimitri pulled back the covers to reveal their naked forms. They dressed quickly and quietly. Dimitri slipped on his black cloak over his black pants and bare chest. Ashei put on a low cut sleeveless tunic.

"Sorry, bro." Link said as Dimitri finally answered the door. "Zelda wants us at the castle."

"Great. Where's Midna?" Dimitri went to the wall and retrieved his legendary Claymore.

"She's already waiting for us with Zelda." Link said as Dimitri and Ashei equipped themselves. They walked past him and led the way out of their quiet home in the biting cold yet tranquil Peak Province.

Peak Province was the childhood home of Ashei, where she was trained and treated harshly by her father. It was also once home to the clan of Yetis, the protectors of the province. The Twili had slaughtered all of them, leaving the province uninhabited. Dimitri had decided to move into the manor of the old Yeti chieftain, which Ashei was more than delighted to find out.

"Why did you have to move all the way out here?" Link grunted as they moved to the stables away from the manor. Dimitri ignored his complaints and threw open the doors of his heated stables. He held Ashei's hand as they went to their horses. Link's horse, Epona, was standing next to Dimitri's horse, Drear.

"Because it's actually quiet." Ashei answered Link and saddled her horse. She kissed Dimitri and mounted her solid white horse. "We have peace here, away from all the trouble of the castle and Kakariko. We can breathe clean air and do whatever we please out here. We're free."

"We're free wherever we go, Ashei. We're forgotten heroes…" Link mounted his horse and looked into Dimitri's back while he readied his horse. "Are we really going to sink into obscurity?"

"I am." Dimitri spoke solemnly. He pulled himself into the saddle of his enormous black steed. He slid his Claymore into a sheath on his horse's side.

"As am I." Ashei brought her horse next to Dimitri's. The world had never seen such loyalty as she had for Dimitri. Even "the Traitor's" loyalty had never come close to the love and obedience Ashei had for Dimitri.

"Why? Zelda said that we could tell the world if we wanted to." Link tried to reason. He lifted his left hand to where the triforce of courage gleamed on the back of it. "Why not make this curse an advantage?"

"Because it is only a curse…" Dimitri subconsciously rubbed the back of his left hand where the triforce of power rested. "I will never exploit my powers as the 'bearer of power' and the 'emissary of the triforce', Link."

"Brother… You are the greatest power that Hyrule has ever seen. People should shout your name from the rooftops in praise. You've saved this kingdom several times…" Link pleaded.

"Enough." Ashei silenced him. She knew things such as this only depressed Dimitri. She was not going to let him be weighed down by the past. She wanted nothing but his happiness and to be with him.

Link rode quietly behind them. Dimitri's gaze fell to the snow covered ground as he led them through the rough paths and icy terrain. He was immortal… He was invincible… He knew it. But he knew that there was no reason that he should be the one with all of this responsibility. All he wanted was the power to protect his world, Ashei.

"Demi?" Ashei rode easily beside him. "Demi? Are you ok?"

"Yes Shei." Dimitri snapped back to reality and used her nickname. These thoughts would surely lead to his downfall.

"I love you." Ashei reached and held his hand as they rode through the biting winds. Link couldn't believe they wore simple, thin clothes in this weather. He had to bundle up for this trek.

"And I love you Ashei." Dimitri kissed her hand as it was in his. "I'm nothing without you."

"And I'm nothing without you Demi." Ashei felt his true love from his eyes and lips. They shared the love everyone seeks but never find.

"How is Midna?" Dimitri shifted his attention. Link nudged his horse closer to his brother and Ashei.

"Great. She's waiting for us at the Castle with Zelda and Azaan." Link tried to sound strong alongside the lovers.

"I still don't see how you can live in the castle…" Dimitri voiced aloud.

"It's not bad, bro. Everything taken care of and we're left alone." Link assured him. "Azaan likes our company and we spar for the soldiers often, to show them how it's really done."

"_King _Azaan." Ashei reminded him. Azaan had become the king of Hyrule once "the Traitor" was defeated and Zelda became the Great Fairy.

Azaan was a strong warrior, who had once served as a lieutenant under Dimitri when he was the head knight for Hyrule. Back when he was Zelda's lover... Azaan had become the guard captain and then the head knight of Hyrule shortly after. Five years ago, he battled "the Traitor" with Dimitri, Ashei, Link, and Midna.

"Of course. I haven't forgotten, but he insists for us to be casual." Link nodded. "We hold public competitions for the soldiers to challenge us and when we are the only ones left, we face each other. We've split the series 5-5. We're pretty equal."

"Good to hear. I don't like weak kings." Dimitri shook thoughts from his head. They emerged at the foot of the mountains overlooking Zora reservoir. They took a stone paved path down from the cliffs and continued toward the castle, which was now visible on the horizon.

"Perhaps you should join us Dimitri." Link suggested. Ashei immediately looked to her lover, waiting to judge his reaction.

"Perhaps…" Dimitri's eyes narrowed. Ashei believed it would be more stress than he needed. "We shall see, brother."

"Would you tell everyone who you are?" Link fished. Dimitri looked over at him, and cut into his brother's eyes with his piercing gaze.

"No one needs to know who I am or what I have done." Dimitri said calmly.

"I'm sorry brother." Link fell back a little bit.

"Demi…" Ashei gripped Dimitri's hand firmer.

"It's alright Ashei. I'm ok." Dimitri comforted her.

They arrived at the front gates into Castle Town. Dimitri led them in a single file line with Ashei behind him and Link bringing up the rear as they trotted through the marketplaces. The people recognized Link from his adventures years ago to defeat Ganon and cheered upon his arrival.

"At least you have the recognition you want." Ashei said to Link, avoiding Dimitri's ears.

"I don't understand why you wouldn't…" Link shrugged. Ashei simply turned back and kept moving forward.

Their path brought them to the castle. Midna was waiting to greet them. Dimitri could see King Azaan in his full royal armor waiting at the top of the great steps leading into the castle.

"Why is he in full battle garb?" Dimitri whispered to himself. They all dismounted and Midna rushed into Link's arms. Azaan came down the steps slowly, lifting his helmet slightly.

"Your majesty." Dimitri bowed to the king of Hyrule. Azaan did not acknowledge him. "Azaan?"

Azaan did not stop moving toward Dimitri. He drew his broadsword and kept advancing. Dimitri could not read him due to his heavy armor and visor over his eyes.

"Azaan?" Ashei called, not understanding. He lifted his broadsword above his head, bracing for a bone-crushing swing. Ashei's battle instincts kicked into gear instantly.

Azaan brought his sword down but in a flash, it met with Ashei's palm, instead of Dimitri's head. Her hand shattered the blade, protecting Dimitri. Azaan stepped back involuntarily and realized that Ashei had done that for nothing. Dimitri was no longer standing there.

"Do not strike at me!" Dimitri's powerful arm snaked around Azaan's armored body and constricted him. His power was collapsing the forged armor, bending it like water reeds.

Ashei saw Dimitri's, now red and bloodthirsty eyes, a look she had never seen before. She grabbed Azaan and pulled him away with much difficulty.

"You stand against me?!" Dimitri roared and raised his arm.

"Demi!! It's me… Ashei…" Ashei couldn't believe what had come over him.

Dimitri stopped and his eyes returned to their normal green hue. He lowered his arm and put his arms around the now shaking Ashei. His eyes loosed tears as he knew that the other side of him had finally surfaced.

"What have I done wrong Demi?" Ashei pressed into Dimitri's chest. "Why does that side of you still exist?"

"I'm sorry Ashei… please forgive me…" Dimitri had tried to lock it all away and hoped to all the deities he could think of to not let it happen again.

Link went to Azaan, who had been thrown aside by Dimitri and Ashei's great strength. He lifted the helmet and saw that Azaan was still breathing, however hard it may be.

"What the hell was that?!" Link inquired.

"I was only testing him." Azaan tried to catch his breath. His royal armor had been crushed like paper. "I didn't expect anything like that…"

"I didn't either." Link helped him stand on his feet.

Dimitri and Ashei had vanished from the courtyard. Link looked around quickly and couldn't find them. He helped walk Azaan back into the castle with Midna carrying his collapsed helmet.


	3. Part Two

Dimitri and Ashei had gone into the castle as quickly as their godly abilities could carry them. They ignored everyone as they ascended into the castle. They emerged into the highest room of the structure, the former bedroom of Princess Zelda when she had ruled.

They found what they had expected waiting for them in the room. She sat patiently on the bed with her beautiful turquoise wings and triforce adorned dress. She was as beautiful as ever.

"I felt it, Dimitri." Zelda stood from the bed.

Dimitri remained quiet and hung his head. Ashei still held onto him, not wanting to let go.

"He was only messing with you." Zelda's voice was soothing to all that heard it. Still, Dimitri remained quiet. "Dimitri, you can't let it get out of hand. If you think it will, tell me now… and I will take care of it…"

"What would you do?" Ashei was afraid to know the answer.

"The only thing I could do Ashei… send him to the only place that can handle him…" Zelda didn't want to think of it either.

"I'm not going back." Dimitri said calmly and held Ashei gently.

"Then let us pray it doesn't happen again." Zelda breathed deeply.

Link and Azaan entered the room and sat down. Azaan had changed into a normal outfit similar to one his soldiers all wore.

"My apologies, your majesty." Dimitri tried to apologize.

"Don't worry about it. And please don't be so formal Dimitri." Azaan raised his hand and smiled. "I should not have even tried to challenge one such as you."

"We all have our moments…" Zelda added. "I would like to welcome you all back since it has been over a year since we were all together. Every time, it seems that one of us has other things to attend to."

Dimitri and Ashei smiled to themselves as they remembered why they had missed the last gathering. Zelda had sent for them but they were spending quality time in the now abandoned sky city once controlled by the ancient Oocca people. They had the place all to themselves and had shared more than just secrets during those nights.

"But I do have some bad news." Zelda sighed.

She pulled a gleaming, blue sword from under the bed. Dimitri recognized it as the sword Ganon had been sealed away with. And after that, she pulled the gold sword that had been made of fusing the Master Sword and Dimitri's claymores. It had been to seal Ralis. Lastly, she pulled the triforce bearing claymore that Dimitri had killed "the Traitor" with five years ago.

"These swords have been recovered from all over Hyrule. We do not know how they have emerged into our realm, and when I think about, I feel a dread rising in my stomach." Zelda reported in a somber tone. "Link found Ganon's blade stuck in the bed of Lake Hylia. Azaan found Ralis' blade on the great plain north of the castle. And I found 'the Traitor's' blade on the steps outside my haven, the Cave of Ordeals in the Gerudo Desert."

"What's your theory?" Ashei sat down and Dimitri sat beside her.

"I know they were destroyed five years ago… they had to be. But I feel a great darkness over Hyrule again and I fear they may have returned." Zelda admitted.

Everyone sat in disbelief but the presence of these weapons was proof of something. How could have they returned?

"I don't believe you." Dimitri said after several moments of silence. He stood up and picked up the swords one by one, doubting their very existence.

"Dimitri… how can you—?" Zelda started.

"Because The Great Fairy killed Ralis and I killed The Great Fairy!! Link killed Ganon. Twice. You can't tell me that they're back again!" Dimitri let show his feelings. "So what if darkness is once again over Hyrule? It doesn't mean its them. I hope it's something else. Maybe then I can fight someone different for once."

Dimitri turned and left, knocking the swords to the floor as he left. Ashei stood to follow him but Zelda touched her shoulder, telling her to give him some time.

"You've done everything you can to protect him and support him, Ashei. He's still so fragile, even with the confidence and support you've given him. The power within him and entrusted to him is corroding him from the inside and giving birth to an entity the likes anyone has ever seen. I know he's strong enough to repel those feelings. Let's just hope he chooses to." Zelda whispered into Ashei's ear. She sat back down and Zelda returned to the table.

"So what do we do, Zelda?" Link said as he picked the swords off the floor and set them back on the table.

"I'm afraid that we have to let whatever or whoever it is to make the first move." Zelda said while her gaze drifted to the window. "And when it does… We'll need Dimitri to face it."


	4. Part Three

Dimitri stormed through the hallways of the castle and went into a vacant and unoccupied room with a bed and generous window. The sun shone brightly through it, covering the room in divine light. He fell onto the bed, feeling his very being shake and begin to falter.

"How could they return?" Dimitri asked to the emptiness of the room, wishing for an answer to return his sanity. His eyes welled with tears. "I cannot face them again… I wouldn't survive… I couldn't bring myself to do it."

He ignored the tears rolling down his face. He had always been weak. He had always needed someone else. Zelda. The Great Fairy. Now Ashei. He needed someone to live. Someone to live for. Someone to give him the strength that the whole world depended on him for.

Ganon, Ralis, and The Great Fairy had been the greatest threat in the history of the kingdom of Hyrule. He had quelled them, but it had taken his toll. Each one of them had had a connection to Dimitri.

Ralis had been his teacher, everything he knew had stemmed from his teachings.

He had inherited the triforce of power and memories from Ganon. He knew everything Ganon had known.

And he had loved the Great Fairy. She had saved him and Link from death and guided him through life. They had shared their lives for a short while… until the Twili darkness had corrupted her divinity.

Everyone of them had their role in his life, driving him to one end of the spectrum to the other. He pondered all of this and soon cried himself to sleep.

Dimitri slowly awoke in darkness. He forgot where he had fallen asleep and called out for Ashei.

"She'll be here in a minute." A cutting voice hissed from the closed door. Dimitri's eyes took several seconds to focus in the darkness. A figure crouched in front of the door.

"Who are you?" Dimitri's fear crept through his veins. The figure stood up and moved to the side of his bed. Dimitri still couldn't tell who it was.

"I'm someone that you never wanted to see again Dimitri. The one who you've been having nightmares about for five years." The figure grabbed his throat and lifted him from the bed. Dimitri struggled against the grip of this nightmare come to life. "I'm someone who you refuse to believe that still lives. Someone that you could never face again because you're weak and afraid. You're afraid to let the demon out. You don't want to end up like me."

Dimitri was held a foot off the ground by the figure. He couldn't cry out as he was moved to the window, which was now open. The moonlight splashed across his attacker's face and body. He saw the Zora markings over his body and the scar reaching from his waist to the top of his shoulder from when he was killed by the great fairy five years ago.

"I, Ralis, have returned!! I returned for your blood Dimitri!" Ralis held him against the window sill, slowly pushing him out. There came a banging on the door and Ralis stopped. "I told you that she would be here. You have a great companion in her. She carries the triforce of wisdom and loyal to the bone. I must go Dimitri. I hope you won't miss me too much. I will return."

Ashei kicked down the wooden door and as she did, Ralis flashed from sight. She rushed to Dimitri and embraced him.

"I was so worried Demi." Ashei kissed his neck.

"I'm so glad you're here Shei." Dimitri fell onto Ashei and passed out.

"Demi?!" Ashei held his unconscious form up. He was much larger than she was but it didn't matter. She laid him on the bed and ran to the door. "Zelda! Link!"

Zelda and Link came as quickly as they could to find Dimitri passed out on the bed. Zelda touched his forehead and felt the sweat and pounding heartbeat.

"He's afraid… but I don't know of anything that has ever scared him." Zelda surmised. She took his sword from his back and removed his cloak. "Put him under the covers and I will take care of him."

Ashei and Link worked to pull the covers over his shirtless chest.

"I'm going to try and wake him up. Please go so I can have complete concentration." Zelda instructed and Link obeyed. Ashei simply stayed by Dimitri's side. "Ashei…"

"No. I'm not going. I want to know what's wrong and I want to help." Ashei held his hand, feeling the slow cooling of his hand.

Zelda spread her wings as wide as she could and her mystic energy could be seen flowing from the tips. The energy culminated into her body, then into Dimitri's body through her hand on his eyes. The triforce on Dimitri's left hand and the mark of the Holy Emissary began to glow golden.

"Something is afflicting his mind." Zelda diagnosed. Zelda peered into his thoughts and memories. "He's seen Ralis…"

"When?!" Ashei asked in disbelief.

"Just a moment ago. He escaped through the window. He's long gone by now." Zelda removed her hand. She gave a breath of despair and turned from the man she still harbored feelings for. He was weakened and worsening. "He'll be like this for a while… but I'm afraid we won't want him to wake up…"

"Why not?" Ashei looked at her sleeping lover. Zelda did not answer. "Damn it Zelda!! What is it?!"

"He's under the stress his powers demand of him…" Zelda tried to will the coming tears from her eyes. She wouldn't let Ashei see the deity of Hyrule so diminished. She tried to walk out.

"Zelda!!" Ashei stood and grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. When she turned about, Ashei saw the tears. The tears believed to bring one back from the dead. "What aren't you telling me?"

"When he wakes up… He won't be Dimitri anymore…" Zelda could see the pain sink through her gaze into Ashei's beautiful brown eyes. "He'll be a demon… one we could never hope to stop…"

"How did this happen?" Ashei let go of Zelda and returned to Dimitri's side. She bent down and kissed his forehead.

"Hyrule demanded too much of him and he's been through too much for any one man." Zelda was jealous of the love Ashei gave Dimitri, a love she never could have given him. "It's all my fault…"

"That doesn't matter." Ashei ignored her. She lay beside Dimitri on the bed and began to sob. "Please Demi… come back to me."

Zelda couldn't stop her tears either and swiftly left the room. She had to get away from what she had done to him.


	5. Part Four

"Link. Your brother is in a coma." Ashei said with tears in her eyes to Dimitri's younger brother. "We're afraid he'll be in it a while."

"Damn it… I never should have said those things to him like I did." Link looked to the ground, feeling some guilt.

"It's not your fault Link." Zelda stood, looking out the window. "But we do have another problem…"

"What is it?" Azaan sat forward slightly.

"Ralis has returned to Hyrule. We don't know how, but Dimitri encountered him in the castle before his coma. We believe him to be the cause of it. And if Ralis is back, we can only suspect that Ganon and The Great Fairy have returned as well." Zelda summarized her suspicions. "We have to find them and eliminate them just as before. We do not know anything other that they are here. We will have to figure things out as we go."

"Azaan, you stay here with Dimitri and look after the castle." Ashei said, taking control of the situation with a plan in mind. Zelda had let her be the strategist for everything to follow. She didn't have the triforce of wisdom for nothing. She was easily as smart as Dimitri, and nearly his equal in strength.

"Yes ma'am." Azaan acknowledged. "But I was hoping to get some combat myself."

"Don't worry. You'll have some if I know these three." Ashei unrolled a map they had once used in the Resistance. Each province was charted and even bore some of the lead markings from the old days. "Link, I want you to scour the desert with Zelda. Midna and I will go recruit some old friends."

"Rusl is in Ordon and Shad is in Kakariko. Auru died last year…" Link told her. "How come Dimitri wasn't at his funeral?"

"He was up on the peak." Ashei referred to their manor in peak province. "You were lucky I was at Lake Hylia when it happened."

"Rusl has three kids now so I don't know if he'll be available." Azaan recalled. "Shad should be available. He hasn't been doing anything except deciphering tombs in the graveyard."

"Then we'll go there first." Ashei rolled the map back up and set her sword on her belt. She grabbed the golden blade that had sealed Ralis the first time and examined it. "Does this still possess its true power?"

"It does." Zelda understood her intent. "But I don't think anyone but Dimitri could wield it to its full potential."

"Then I'll settle for partial potential." She strapped it to her back. Link took up the idea and put the gleaming sword used to seal Ganon on his back.

"Good idea." Link secured the sacred weapon. "We're going to head out. Let's go, goddess."

"Ha ha." Zelda said dryly. She spread her vibrant wings and they disappeared.

"Keep Dimitri's Claymore. You may need it." Ashei motioned to Azaan. She turned with Midna close behind her.

Azaan sheathed the Claymore and went to the room Dimitri was in.

"I'm sorry Dimitri. I didn't mean to do that… I'm sorry." Azaan tried to apologize, but realized it wouldn't do him any good now. What raw power had when he crushed his steel armor with one arm!

Azaan had remembered how Dimitri had defended him several times as they fought together five years ago. His face was the picture of a god. His tan, divinely sculpted body, covered in millions of scars.

He sat in silence, wondering what Dimitri really thought about the world he saved so many times. They never once appreciated him. Not once! He felt overwhelmed by guilt as he realized Zelda shouldn't have given him the crown, but instead to Dimitri, the hero.

"Do you remember when I actually held my own against Ganon five years ago?" Azaan remembered his moment of glory, hoping his words could penetrate the silence into Dimitri's mind. "That was probably the proudest moment of my life."

Azaan reminisced of his battle against the dark lord, Ganon. He had been resurrected by the Great Fairy as a pawn in her sick game. She had made him even more powerful than he had been when he was alive. Link had been fighting him, but he had rushed in to save Link from a deathblow, and took over the battle.

"I don't think I've ever felt as proud as when I did that." Azaan sat beside the bed. "It was your teachings that pulled me through, Dimitri. When I have a son, I want him to be just like you. Such a man would be fit as king, don't you think?"

"Perhaps a man like that will be king." A woman's voice echoed from the door way behind him. Azaan turned and saw a sight he hadn't wished to ever see again either. "When I have his child."

The Great Fairy stood with her wings folded and bearing the scars Dimitri had given her when he killed her. Her presence paralyzed Azaan out of fear and disbelief.

"Why are you so surprised your majesty?" She smiled. She moved slowly to the other side of the bed and touched Dimitri's bare arm. "I came back for him. When he killed me, I saw that he was truly a man, and not a disgusting _human_. He is the answer to years of my prayers. He will join the realms again, and Hyrule will once again reign in glory under us."

"Are you insane?!" Azaan couldn't even grasp what the hell she was talking about. "Listen to what you're saying. What are you blabbing about?"

"The three realms will join again, after five thousand years. Hyrule, the Twili realm, and the Sacred realm. Dimitri and I will reunite them and bring about a whole new existence." She sounded so sure but insane at the same time. "As the old Hylian legend says, 'only the emissary can merge the paths.'"

Azaan realized that he had once heard this. But where? Of course! It was in the ancient tombs of past kings in Kakariko village. Shad was onto something.

"Alas, you are not needed for this plan to come to fruition." The Great Fairy feigned remorse. "So I will remove you from this mortal scene. Hopefully you were a great king, and not a tyrant."

Azaan brandished the Claymore and moved fluidly over the bed. He swung for her chest, but missed as she vanished. He landed roughly and spun about face. His face was inches from the Great Fairy's and he was taken aback.

"You realize that only Dimitri has the ability to stop me." She taunted. Azaan lashed out at her, but she knocked the saber away with her bare arm. The impact shattered the bones in his arms all the way up the shoulder. He collapsed to his knees and cried out in anguish. "You are no man. You are merely _human_. Pathetic."

With her arm, she decapitated the king of Hyrule. His severed head lay on the floor. She smiled evilly and picked it up. The eyes had already lost their luster and glazed over. She was going to let the people of Hyrule know what they were dealing with.

"And may the hand of heaven cast down the non-believers." She hurled Azaan's head from the window and watched it fall into the courtyard. Within seconds, she heard a deathly shriek. "Game, set, match. Now, it's time to awaken the dreamer."


	6. Part Five

Ashei was the strongest person in Hyrule, aside from Dimitri. Her beauty made her the envy of every man, but no one dared to act. She was wiser than Zelda and Dimitri put together. The only thing that kept her arms tied was her love and devotion to Dimitri. She would do anything for him. She would never hesitate.

She looked over her shoulder to confirm Midna was keeping up with her brisk pace. Midna was the wife of Link, and former ruler of the Twili realm. She had been deposed and manipulated several times until Dimitri destroyed the Twili realm, leaving her as a simple woman in Hyrule. She was very reliable and kept many secrets. She could heal with her Twili magic and was very intelligent in her own right.

"Shad said he had found several interesting things in the tombs over the years. Maybe he found something helpful." Ashei pulled her ebony hair back like she wore it in the days of the resistance. "He was always good at that kind of thing."

"I know. He always analyzes everything he finds." Midna agreed. But they also both remembered when the Goron elders had turned him against them. He had died of natural causes in the desert, but they brought him back to life with their Twili powers and manipulated him.

Ashei and Midna came to the gates of Kakariko and acknowledged the guards on either side. This was the largest town in Hyrule aside from Castle Town. There was good reason to protect it.

The graveyard was off to the west in the town, nestled in a protective niche of cliffs. Beneath it's headstones lay hundreds of tombs and unexplored caverns housing deceased heroes, soldiers, kings, and even common people. Shad had recorded over forty of them and what he found in them.

"So what do we do now?" Midna asked, standing beside Ashei as they entered the graveyard and seeing several openings leading underground.

"Start calling him out." Ashei went to the first one and took one step in. She lowered her head and cupped her hands around her mouth. "Shad!!"

There was no answer. Ashei shrugged and went to the next one. Midna followed suit and began calling for Shad one tomb at a time. Their search covered every opening into the underground, but to no avail. Their route through the entries brought them to the westernmost point in the graveyard where recent work had been done on the wall.

"What's this?" Ashei looked to Midna, who shrugged. A crack in the wall was expanded into a very narrow tunnel. She adjusted her weapons and got down on her hands and knees. "You coming?"

"After you dear." Midna waited for Ashei to creep through the tunnel and followed her.

They emerged on the other side into a beautiful, pristine chamber. A channel of water ran through the center of the brightly adorned room.

"I know this place." Ashei remembered stories of Link's travels. "This is where Ralis' mother was enshrined when Zant killed her. When Ralis was a little boy, he would never leave this chamber and mourned his mother."

"I'd heard Link speak of this." Midna looked across the room and found the story high tombstone that bore Ralis' mother's name, Rutela. It also had hundred of lines written in ancient Hylian text.

"Ashei?" A light voice came from behind the tombstone.

"Shad?" She recognized the voice and saw Shad poke his head from around the gargantuan monolith. Ashei and Midna dove into the water and swam to the other side of the room. They dragged themselves from the refreshing water and came to Shad. "What are you doing way back here?"

"I just found this tomb the other day. Its by far the most intriguing out of all the tombs I've found." Shad pointed to the back of the headstone. There were thousands of lines in the same Hylian text as on the front but it was much smaller and all of it ran together. "I'm deciphering it. I already translated the front. It was a simple epitaph to the queen of the Zoras. It told of her greatness and beauty. But the back is much different… and darker."

"What do you mean by that?" Ashei asked as she ran her hand across the ridges the text created in the brownish stone. She could feel a heavy weight to the writing.

"It has translated so far into a warning. I'm only about ten lines in but its very difficult to find the breaks in actual words and decipher them accordingly." Shad picked up a book from the ground and opened it. It had hundreds of pages of symbols and their direct translation. "Each line contains one thousand characters and there are seven hundred lines from top to bottom. My eyes hurt from straining them over these symbols but I can't stop now that I've found this."

"What does it say so far?" Midna looked into his book.

"It says, 'only the emissary can merge the paths.' My thoughts immediately went to Dimitri, as he is the Emissary of the Triforce but I have no idea about the paths. It states there is a guardian for each path that will face the emissary with intentions of stopping him. Then it goes on to warn of a being known as a dark god. That can only be Ganon. Next, it tells of a divine mutineer. The closest match is the Great Fairy. The last one was very puzzling… It tells of, well, there was no direct translation for it so I dubbed it as a wild card."

"Ralis…" Ashei completed Shad's train of thought.

"Incredible." Shad's jaw dropped. "How did you know that was who I believed it to be?"

"Because we have bad news." Ashei looked into her former comrade's eyes. "The swords that sealed Ganon, The Great Fairy, and Ralis were found all over Hyrule. They're back… and Dimitri is in a coma."

"My god…" Shad realized the threat. "What happened to Dimitri?"

"He encountered Ralis… we're not sure how." Ashei kept certain information from him. She had to protect Dimitri's image until they could fix everything. "He passed out when I got to him. He's at the castle with Azaan."

"What should we do?" Shad set his book down.

"I think you should continue your work here. It seems you've found something we may need." Midna explained. "We are also on our way to recruit Rusl."

"Ok. I'll work even harder to get this translated as much as I can. Return once you've gotten Rusl and I will report you my findings." Shad began to examine the text again.

"Sounds good." Ashei nodded. They turned around the monolith and were about to dive back into the water when Ashei noticed something strange. The ledge they were on was a foot or better above the water, but water was flowing up the side onto the ledge. It started to pool in front of the headstone. "Get back!"

Ashei pushed Midna and herself behind the stone. Shad was about to ask what was going on but Ashei clapped her hand over his mouth and pressed him against the stone with them.

She leaned slightly, just enough to see, around the side to see what was going on. The water began to solidify and built up to form an ice figure. It took the shape of a person and the place where its eyes would be burned eyes of hatred. The ice began to heat up and gain color. Markings appeared on the arms and chest.

"Shit!" Ashei ducked back behind the headstone, sure that she hadn't been seen. She motioned to keep quiet to Midna and Shad. "It's Ralis!!"

"Mother." Ralis' deep bass voice rumbled the chamber. "I have returned. I'm here to complete the mission fate has entrusted me."

"What the hell is he talking about?" Midna whispered minutely. Ashei drew the golden blade from her back ever so quietly. She readied herself in case Ralis found them.

"I have no idea but I'd rather not have him explain it to me." Ashei tensed every muscle in her body.

"I'm here to stop the demon that has 'protected' this land for nearly six years. His reign will not continue as long as breath has been returned to my body. I'm here to make you proud, mother." Ralis moved closer to the stone. "There is a great force ahead of us. Dimitri is not alone. His loyal companion Ashei is ready to die for him."

Ashei nodded in agreement to his words but remained tense.

"Then there is his brother, the one who defeated Ganon twice. It will not happen thrice. His wife, the Twili Princess is also in the way." Midna swallowed nervously as he referenced to her. "I know I am weaker than Dimitri, but there is no other that could stand in my way. The only one who can influence this chain of events set forth by this kingdom's destiny is that damn Zelda."

Ashei remembered every word of his monologue and stored it in her mind for later.

"Thank you mother, for preparing me. For raising me to be the guardian of this realm. That demon is nothing to the Guardians' wave of justice and purification. We will save this realm. Ganon, The Great Fairy, and myself, will tear Dimitri's heart from his body and quell the greatest threat Hyrule has ever seen." Ralis declared, sounding fully capable of doing so. "Goodbye mother. I must destroy your resting place. No one must ever know our true mission."

Ralis could be heard turning from the stone. Ashei relaxed only a millimeter. Shad and Midna remained completely still. A rumbling was felt throughout the room and Ashei had a bad feeling.

"May this torrent signal the coming of our wave, our purification of this realm." Ralis bellowed and jumped into the water. He started laughing. "I know you're there Ashei!"

Ashei gasped and froze. The rumbling grew stronger and louder.

"I could feel your strength and the triforce from miles away." Ralis still laughed. "I'm glad you have learned the truth about your beloved Dimitri. I hope you see him for what he really is after what happened to him today. I was able to suppress him for a little while longer, but it will never hold him forever."

"What is he talking about Ashei?" Shad asked.

"Is he talking about what Dimitri did to Azaan?" Midna inquired. Still the rumbling grew.

"Both of you shut up!!" Ashei did not want to think about the truth. There was a demon inside Dimitri, but that wasn't what he truly was. She knew him better than anyone. "What the hell do you know, Ralis?!"

"I know everything." Ralis said, with truth to his voice. "If you survive, I'd like you to find me again. Let me know if you wish to join us."

"I'm never going to join you!!" Ashei didn't even consider it.

"Very well. Farewell." Ralis disappeared beneath the water.

"Fuck…" Ashei could feel the rumbling quaking in her bones.

"Umm… that's not good." Shad pointed to the wall in front of them. Water was slowly coming through the cracks in the walls.

"Dimitri!!" Ashei cried as the walls caved in and they were swallowed in a deluge of water.


	7. Part Six

"There's nothing out here, Zelda." Link and Zelda had been scouring the desert for hours in the heat and found nothing. No sign of malevolence or evil influence. "Why are we still here?"

"Because we must keep looking." Zelda seemed on edge.

"Zelda." Link stopped her and placed his hands on her shoulders. His eyes bore a hole in Zelda's. "What has you so spooked? What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing." Zelda tried to lie. Link gripped her shoulders slightly firmer. "Link…"

"Tell me what is going on in that brilliant mind of yours." Link pressured her some more.

"It's Dimitri." Zelda choked out.

"What about him?" Link requested.

"He's in a coma and we need him. He's the only one that could handle all of this. I can't face adversity like this…" She couldn't remove herself from Link's grip.

"Yes you can Zelda." Link assured her. "Why else were you chosen as the protective deity of Hyrule?"

"That's not true…" Zelda was about to share with him a secret that had been kept for thousands of years. "The Great Fairy, which I've become… is really an enemy of Hyrule."

"What?" Link asked, very confused.

"Five thousand years ago, all three realms, Hyrule, the Twili realm, and the Sacred realm were all one realm. The Great Fairy reigned in conjunction with a Twili and a Hylian. You can see who represented each realm." Zelda began to explain. It was all so deep. "The triforce was given to a member in each realm. Wisdom usually went to someone in the Sacred realm, power to the Twili realm, and courage to Hyrule."

Link let go of Zelda and sat in the growing shade of a fissure wall. Zelda sat beside him and continued her explanation.

"A grave threat threatened the tri-realm and the three people rallied to face it. It was a demon of unknown origin that possessed a young man with a unique hair color…" Zelda began to hesitate.

"What color?" Link began to feel that he knew the answer already.

"Silver…" Zelda looked away. "No one in five thousand years has had his hair color. It is a mark to brand him. Inside him slumbers a demon that he will soon have no control over. The three realms have chosen their guardians through fate. I believe The Twili realm has chosen Ganon and Hyrule has chosen Ralis. The Sacred realm has no doubt chosen the previous Great Fairy. I wasn't even considered."

Link remained speechless. Zelda could feel anger within him as he sat there.

"It is said that a child of the demon would rule all three realms for the rest of eternity." Zelda added. Link stood up slowly and kept his eyes averted from Zelda.

"Why. The Fuck. Didn't you tell anyone about this?!?!" Link grabbed her by her collar. She never thought he would lash out at her. But she did deserve it. "We could have prepared for this, or come up with a way to stop it!!"

"There is no way to stop this. The only ones who can save us is the three guardians the realms have chosen." Zelda was pinned to the sand by Link's powerful arms. She didn't even try to struggle.

"So we have to trust the three worst enemies Hyrule has ever had?" Link raged.

"Indeed." An unmistakable voice thundered behind them. Link let go of Zelda and drew the azure blade from his back, striking like lightning backward. His attack was stopped by a black sword five foot long and a foot wide, glowing with Twili flame. Link's mortal enemy, Ganon, stood holding Link's sacred blade at bay. "We're all that you have, Hero of Time."

"I will never believe anything you say, Ganon!" Link slid the sword off of Ganon's and struck in a mad storm, each attack coming quicker than the one before. Ganon seemed to have no trouble parrying every blow. Ganon chuckled as Link kept striking futilely. "Stop running from me, bastard!"

"You really don't want me to do anything else. Trust me." Ganon deflected more attacks.

"That is one thing I will never do." Link felt the fatigue of his useless onslaught. His blows began to slow down and lose intensity. "I don't care what happens to this fucking world, but you are going to die."

"There is only one that can kill me, and it's not you Link." Ganon grabbed Link's wrist before he swung again. He wrenched the sacred sword from his hand and pushed him backward onto the sand. "You were right to try, but it did no good other than to tire you out for the coming battles."

"What are you really here for? It can't be to defend anything righteous." Link huffed. "Dimitri is not the demon some fucking legend claims him to be. So what if he has silver hair? So what if he looks like the demon of the past? He's not going to become a monster like that."

"He will. And we'll be there to slay the demon." Ganon looked at Zelda. "Do you wish to try and stop me, Great Fairy?"

"I do, but I fear that I can not." Zelda conceded. "What do you propose?"

"We will not be here any longer than needed to kill the demon and then we will be recalled to the afterlife." Ganon made his giant blade disappear into the air around him. He leaned back and sand moved to cradle him in a sitting position. "We were looking for you two, Midna… and Ashei…"

"You know she'll try to kill you just as Link did, after what you did to her five years ago." Zelda recalled what torture he had put her through. Ganon had raped her as a torture when the Great Fairy had punished them five years ago.

"That is in the past." Ganon flushed the thoughts away. "You remember all of that mess…"

"I do. And so does she. She will not settle for anything less than your head on a platter." Link lay out completely, glad that it was shady here. "If you really plan on killing Dimitri, I can't let you."

"Then shall we settle this now?" Ganon didn't stir.

"I wouldn't stand a chance right now." Link admitted. He stood and grabbed the sword. "Is this what you want Zelda? To ally yourself with the one who your kingdom and nearly destroyed two realms on more than one occasion? To kill the one man that you have ever loved, the one who taught you to love? The one who you shared your bed with for three years as your loyal bodyguard and head knight?"

"Stop Link… please…" Zelda fought back waves of tears. Link's guilt trips were slowly breaking her down.

"You want to kill the man who has defended Hyrule and yourself more times than anyone could possibly count?" Link began to yell, his voice carrying over the entire expanse of desert. "You still love him! I know you do! I can tell every time you mention his name or look at him!! You want to resign yourself to 'fate' and kill the one man who single handedly changed the course of history?!?!"

"Just go Link!! I can't take it!!" Zelda unfolded her wings and sent a rippling surge of energy outward around her. Ganon was knocked to the ground and Link instantly disappeared. When the sand settled, Ganon was sprawled on the ground and Link was no where to be seen. "I'm sorry Link… I'm sorry…"

"There there. You did the right thing." Ganon comforted her, which was highly uncharacteristic of him. "He would have just done something foolish and gotten someone hurt."

"I'm hurt… I'm the one who is hurt Ganon…" Zelda fell to her knees and cradled herself. "He's right. I can't fulfill my part…"

"That's fine, Zelda. As long as you don't stand in the way, all will be spared." Ganon helped her stand back up. "This is hard and I know what you're thinking. 'We can't kill someone such as Dimitri.' We have to. It's the only way to change everything."

"I know…" Zelda wept and realized Ganon was right.


	8. Part Seven

Finally, Dimitri was in her grasp once again. The one thing she had been counting on. The Great Fairy toyed with his long, gorgeous silver hair. She remembered when he was hers the first time. The way he had made love to her was a magic she couldn't ever recreate. She missed him in her little slice of hell afterlife he had sent her to.

"I know you missed me Demi." She stroked his face and admired his muscles. He was the perfect man and within him was the entity that generations upon generations feared for thousands of years. It was her intention to bear his child, as that child was said to rule for the rest of time. "I came back as a guardian, but I have come to be your mistress."

She knew that the state he was in, that would be impossible, but she feared waking him as to disturb the demon within. She could feel it's power beginning to grow restless, trapped in Dimitri's body for countless years.

"Would you like me to wake you, sweet prince?" She whispered in his ear. Dimitri's body gave an unexpected shudder and she moved a few inches back. "I'll take that as a yes."

She weaved her arms, culminating energy like an intricate design in the stagnant air. She stopped and the light fell over Dimitri's motionless figure. She waited a few seconds and began to see him stir. She was smiling in anticipation, but that smile twisted into a grimace of fear when a power she had never felt before burst through the entire realm of Hyrule.

"Heavens… I messed up." She back away and tried to flee. When she moved to the door, it slammed shut and wouldn't open. She attempted to use her powers to break it down, but they had no effect. "He has awakened…"

She turned and saw something that made her blood run cold. Dimitri slowly sat up, with his eyes closed. She couldn't look, but her muscles weren't responding and her head wouldn't move. His eyes snapped open, revealing red irises and darkness emanating from them. Crimson marks began spreading all over his body, giving him the marks foretold of in the legend.

"You're the one from five thousand years ago." Dimitri acknowledged her presence. "You were there when they sealed me away and split the realms to ensure of my continued absence."

"Dimitri!" She called out to his mortal soul.

"He is still here. But I fear he will not be returning." He stood from the bed and moved in front of her. "You say you wish to bear the child that will rule for eternity. That's a problem. I will be the one ruling for the rest of time. There isn't a damn thing you guardians can do to stop me."

Dimitri grabbed her throat and grinned demonically, but with some of the real Dimitri's purity.

"I remember how you taste." Dimitri said as he gripped her neck harder, and talking of the nights they had spent together. "You tasted so sweet, but even Zelda was better. And the one I really want… Ashei. Dimitri knew what he was doing."

He put his other hand on one of the Great Fairy's turquoise wings. His grin grew even wider, showing newly formed fangs. The Great Fairy tried to scream but nothing came.

"Try this for a change." Dimitri ripped the wing from her shoulder, letting blood splatter everywhere. He laughed in sick satisfaction as her eyes rolled back in her head from the pain. He threw the wing to the floor and loosened his grip ever so gently on her throat. "You may be useful, but I don't want to take that chance. Maybe I'll send you somewhere that you'll never be able to find your way back from, hmm?"

"Please… Dimitri…" The Great Fairy rubbed the deeply bruised marks on her neck. She whined as he took hold of her other wing. "Please god… no…"

"I am your new god. Praying to me won't do any good." Dimitri swung her around in a circle, creating such centripetal force she could feel the muscles in her shoulder and wing separating. "I have written the new definition of pain. You are the first witness, but not the last."

He timed his swing just right and as her other wing was ripped from her body, her motion carried her at speeds unimaginable out the window. Dimitri dropped the wing and watched as the disgraced Great Fairy flew off into the horizon.

"Her blood is quite favorable." Dimitri tasted the crimson blood on his hand. "Now begins a new reign for me. Nothing will impede me this time. I will have my kingdom across realms and my queen."


	9. Part Eight

Ashei awoke screaming in darkness. She cried out for Dimitri and wished he would come back to her. She was wet and couldn't remember what had happened.

"Ashei?!" Midna opened a door across from the bed. She rushed to her and put her arms around her.

"Where is Dimitri?! Please tell me…" Ashei cried into her friend's shoulder. "Please…"

"I don't know, Ashei." Midna comforted her and tried to calm her down. Shad came into the room and sat beside them. "We washed up in Ordon down river a couple miles. The wave of water washed away half of the village. Rusl pulled us out and we woke up here."

"Dimitri…" Ashei was deeply traumatized. Midna couldn't help her and she looked to Shad. He shook his head solemnly. "I want Dimitri…"

"I'm sorry dear. He's back at the castle still under." Midna held her close friend even closer. "We have to find Ralis."

"I just want Dimitri…" Ashei fell back onto the bed and slipped from consciousness.

"What do we do now?" Shad asked, seeing their leader's condition.

"I don't think we're going to make it at this point." Midna said pessimistically. "Ashei was the only one anywhere close to Dimitri. Link and Zelda are powerful, but nowhere near what Ashei achieved. Two pieces of the triforce are out of commission."

"But the stone did wash down with us. Its wedged in the dam underwater at the edge of the village." Shad pointed out. "We may be able to use it to our advantage."

"I doubt it, but we can try." Midna gave an apathetic shrug. "Where is Rusl?"

"He's with his children, making sure the rest of the village is safe." Shad informed her. "He also said that right after he found us, he felt a strange power course through the land. One of magnitude he'd never felt."

"Probably Ralis." Midna suggested.

"He said that it wasn't Ralis. He remembers what his power felt like." Shad countered. "He said it felt untapped and ancient."

"Is it Dimitri?" Midna understood what Shad was suggesting.

"I fear it may be." Shad stood and led Midna from the house into the now soaked and nearly drowned village. "Ralis is something else we can not combat alone. But he said he was going to stop Dimitri."

"I know. But the way everything is being described and unfolding, he may not be enough either." Midna observed the ruins of the once thriving village. "How could he claim to be a protector and destroy so much?"

"I don't know." Shad followed the edge of standing water to where the villagers were shoring up the dam, preventing even more water from wiping out the rest of their town. They looked under the clear waters and saw the large brown monolith that Shad had been studying. "If Dimitri were here, he could record the symbols because he can breathe underwater. Still confused on how he learned how to do that…"

"It doesn't matter. He is a resource we can't use right now." Midna pointed out. "We're going to have to help Ashei return to normal and figure out what the rest of that stone says."

"Ok. Maybe Rusl can help us." Shad said with a little optimism.

"You called?" Rusl came up behind them, overseeing the relief efforts.

"Yeah. What could we do to get that headstone out of the dam?" Shad motioned to the stone.

"I don't think we have the man power to get it out. It's way too heavy." Rusl crossed his arms. "It's also holding the dam together. If we remove the stone, it would probably crumble and flood everything again."

"Damn it…" Midna cursed. "Do you think you could come with us?"

"To where?" Rusl asked. "The way you described the situation, there isn't anywhere we could go."

"We're going to take Ashei back to the castle to leave her with Azaan and let her see Dimitri." Midna looked away from the water. "We also need to find Link and Zelda."

"I'm sure they're fine, Midna." Shad turned as Midna had. Rusl unsheathed his sword and checked it. He sheathed it when he confirmed it was fine. "So, you up for it?"

"Yeah. It'll be like old times, and times again." Rusl smiled briefly. "I'll carry Ashei."

"Ok. Make sure we have everything we need." Midna directed Shad. Rusl went into the house Ashei was asleep in. He came back out with her on his back and the golden blade on his hip. Shad came back with a pack containing his findings and supplies they may need. "Ready?"

"Let's go." Rusl led the way from the recovering village through the forests, carrying Ashei to see the person that could return her to her original self.


	10. Part Nine

Link's head was killing him. He came to in a warm room with a large fireplace. He checked himself for injuries but found none and looked around. He was lying on a pad of fur and covered with a fur blanket. He knew where he was. He was in Dimitri and Ashei's Peak Province manor.

"Why am I here?" Link pondered. He stood up and felt an aching throughout his whole body. He remembered Zelda screaming at him and then he didn't remember anything after that.

"You're here because I brought you here." A woman stepped into the room. She had blue hair and a scar going down her body. She looked so familiar but he couldn't place it. He looked her over in confusion. "Don't look at me like that. You should know who I am."

"I have no idea." Link said, puzzled.

"I was the Great Fairy of Hyrule." She leaned against the threshold. Link's hand went straight to his back to draw his sword, but it wasn't there. "I figured that's how you would react. Your sword is over on the chair."

"Why are you here?" Link stayed in place. She came closer to him and he noticed her wings were missing. "And what happened to your wings?"

"That's a long story." She sighed.

"We've got time." Link persisted. He was really curious, but at the same time, cautious.

"Actually, we don't." She raised a finger. She turned around and lifted her tunic. Link could see where her wings had been ripped from her body and where the blood still coagulated to try and heal. "This is what Dimitri did to me."

"You mean he's awake?" Link grew closer.

"Oh yeah. He's more than awake." She was about to put her tunic back down when Link touched her skin around the wounds. "What are you doing?"

"Those are really bad. If Dimitri truly did this… than the demon has awakened…" Link couldn't imagine the monster that would have done this. "And if that's true, then what Ganon said was true."

"He went to try and convince you and Zelda. I have no idea how you got out here." She winced as he examined the gashes.

"Zelda told me to shut up and sent me away…" Link told what he could remember. He saw that infection was beginning to set into the wounds. "How did you get here?"

"I was so fucking stupid and killed Azaan." She said, and upon hearing this, Link pushed his thumbs into her wounds, dropping her to her knees in pain. "Aughh…"

"Why did you do that?!?!" Link kept putting pressure on her weak points. He put his mouth to her ear and kept yelling. "You claim you want to help and you kill the king of Hyrule?!?!"

"Link…" She tried to speak through the pain.

"No!! I should have known!! I knew I shouldn't trust Ganon, and I know not to trust you! Is Ralis back too?!" Link pressed even harder, pushing her to her limits.

"Yes… he went to recruit Ashei and Midna…" She was about to pass out.

"He's probably tried to kill them by now. You sons of bitches are going to pay for all of this." Link threatened.

"Listen to me Link." She felt the blood running down her back. "I realize what I did was wrong, and my cause was misguided. I tried to manipulate the demon within him, and it failed horribly."

"I'm sure it did." Link grit his teeth.

"I know that we can't defeat him divided, so we need everyone to unite against him. We need everyone." She couldn't feel anything anymore out of anguish. "We need your help Link!"

Link stopped applying pressure but kept her on her knees.

"We were wrong, Link. We need your help. We need the remaining pieces of the triforce." She panted. "Please Link…"

Link said nothing but took his hand off of the former Great Fairy. He slung the blood off his hands and wiped them on his iconic green tunic. He grabbed his sword along with the blue sacred blade. He set the sacred sword back down and turned back to his once mortal enemy. She was putting her tunic back on, trying to avoid brushing the wounds.

"Keep it off." He took a knife from a nearby table. She looked over her bleeding shoulder at him with the purest eyes he had ever seen. "We need to fix those wounds."

"Ok…" She heeded his words and took her tunic back off, leaving her upper body bare. He kneeled behind her, ready to work on her back. "Thank you, Link."

"Don't thank me for anything." Link laid the fur blanket on the floor in front of her, careful not to look back at her. "Lay on your stomach… what is your true name?"

"My worshippers thousands of years ago called me Creina." She lay on her stomach with her arms outstretched across the floor.

"Dimitri told me that a long time ago." Link remembered him saying that very statement years ago. "Well Creina, infection has already set into your wounds, so I'm going to have to cut them out. It's going to hurt. A lot."

"It already hurts a lot. You don't need to tell me about more pain." She said with her head turned sideways on the fur blanket.

"Are you ready?" Link placed the knife against the dead skin on her left shoulder.

"Yeah." She braced, and Link sliced through her skin. She kept in screams of pain and agony. Tears of blood rolled down her cheeks. She held everything in as Link surgically cut away the infected and dead tissues.

After a couple hours of cutting and pain, she felt Link stop and heard him set the knife down.

"Are you ok?" She could hear that his breath had become heavier.

"Yeah. I just need to heat my sword." He stood up and placed his sword in the fireplace. "I'm going to use it to seal your shoulders back up. You'll have some wicked burn scars but won't have any other problems."

"Alright." Creina put her face back in the fur and tried to relax. She heard his blade begin to crackle when he took it out of the fire. He held it just above her shoulders, so close that she could feel the heat as if it were already pressing against her. "I'm ready."

"Sorry about this." He pressed it against her raw flesh, searing it, preventing infection and melding the skin back together. Her screams couldn't be held back this time and she let out a deafening screech. He let off, done with one shoulder. He could see her crumple and press as low to the floor as she could. "I'm so sorry. There isn't any other way."

"I know Link. I know." She said between strained convulsions.

Link nodded to himself and moved on to the next shoulder. He repeated what he had done to the first shoulder. She screamed once again and passed out this time. He finished and threw his sword across the room. It stuck into the wall farthest from them, cooling after a few seconds.

"That should do it, Creina." He wiped his hands and brushed himself off. He noticed she had passed out, so he bent down to her. Her head was lying sideways on the blanket, making her face Link with closed eyes. Her hair fell beautifully over her face and neck. He was struck by her beauty. "I see what captivated Dimitri about you."

He wrapped her in the blanket and carried her into Dimitri and Ashei's room to their large bed. Her bleeding had stopped and he tucked her into bed. She would be asleep a while with wounds such as those.

"Sweet dreams, Creina. We have a lot ahead of us." Link closed the door behind him.


	11. Part Ten

Ganon led Zelda through the desert during the night. They had been walking a while and were heading for the cliffs overlooking Lake Hylia. This was the only way back to Hyrule, a three mile cliff straight into the tranquil waters of Lake Hylia, the purest water in all of Hyrule.

"We're going to have to jump, Zelda." Ganon stated, eyeing the waters miles below.

"You're forgetting I have wings, Ganon." She stretched her vibrant turquoise wings and flapped them strongly. "I could fly to the shore on the east side. It looks like I'll see you there."

"Of course." Ganon smirked. He was about to dive head first when they saw something indescribable. The waters were receding in the lake, leaving the edges of dry lake bed exposed. The water was all stockpiling in one area of the lake, the cliff wall below them. The water was rising in one spot to meet them. "But that's why I have him."

"You mean—?" Zelda watched the water reach their level, and a familiar man walk onto the ledge from the water pillar. "Ralis."

"At your service. So good to see you again, Zelda." He could read her thoughts through her eyes. "And I have not forgotten how we were once were."

"Neither have I…" Zelda pushed the thoughts away. "Shall we go then?"

"Of course, Great Fairy." Ganon motioned for her to step into the water column. She uneasily stepped into the raging cyclone of clear water. When she did, she was immediately transported to the west shore of the lake. She looked back and saw the water cyclone across the lake reaching up the cliffs. Ganon and Ralis soon appeared beside her. "Ralis. Please return the water."

"Done." Ralis snapped his fingers and the water surged back into the lake, washing up on all sides of the lake, returning it to its previous state. "I believe we need to proceed to the castle and see if Creina has accomplished her part. I had to eliminate Ashei, Midna, and Shad. They wouldn't join our cause so I drowned them under a torrent of water."

"Don't expect them to die so easily, Ralis." Zelda warned him. "You shouldn't ever underestimate them like that. They are some of the hardiest people I've ever seen."

"So are we. We are still here, aren't we?" Ganon smiled. "We aren't completely gone yet."

"Unfortunately." Zelda began walking the paths laid out near the shores. They walked up to the great Hylian Bridge and were now able to see the castle in the horizon. "That isn't a good sign."

The castle seemed different. The tallest tower that was the most prominent part of the structure, was missing, along with the eastern side. They could see the smoke plumes and heat rising into the air from the city and castle, even from this distance away.

"The demon has already awakened! What has Creina done?!" Ganon exclaimed. Zelda looked to him and Ralis in desperation. "Don't worry. I have what we need."

He put his hands to the ground before the bridge. His Twili energy poured into the soil and he raised his hands. Stallions made of bare skeletons emerged from the earth. Their eyes burned with Twili flame and whinnied impatiently.

"Get on one and go!!" Ralis jumped onto one and took off as fast as he could. Ganon and Zelda were right behind him, letting the dark winds blow against them as they rode into the face of time ticking away. "Don't stop until you get there!!"

"I wasn't planning on it." Zelda yelled above the wind and galloping of bone hooves. The skeleton horses were faster than normal horses and were just what they needed. They could see the walls of castle town, but it was too late. The whole city was aflame. "Damn it!"

They rode through the flames, feeling the heat lick their legs as they dashed through. Their deathly pace guided them to the gates of the castle. The large steel gates were bent to the sides and thrown out of the way. Whatever had come through here was nothing short of apocalyptic. Legend said that these gates would remain until the end of times. Now they were discarded and broken.

"Keep going to the castle courtyard!" Zelda sidled up the horse's spine more, trying to see. They rode into the grassy and once peaceful royal courtyard, but it appeared Armageddon had not spared one inch of it. The trees were ablaze and the grass was charred black. "How could this have happened to Hyrule?!"

"It was unavoidable. Let's just hope Dimitri is still here somewhere." Ganon spurred his steed toward the castle doors. He materialized his enormous dark blade in one hand and steered his mount with the other. His eyes drifted skyward, seeing the kingdom he had once usurped burning to the ground and felt slightly jealous that it was not he, but an even greater power that was doing it. "We either kill the demon or die!!"

Ralis and Zelda followed Ganon's charge and stormed the castle. They ground to a halt when they saw what waited for them. The throne had been moved to the grand hall that led to all other rooms of the castle. Sitting on the throne was a creature of unimaginable horror.

"It can't be…" Zelda realized that the creature could only be one person. "Oh god Dimitri…"

He had undergone a demonic transformation. His body had grown larger and his hands had turned to claws covered in natural armor. His body was encased in a golden armor, bearing the mark of the triforce over his heart. His silver hair had grown from his shoulders to the ground. His back sported two jet black wings twice as big as Zelda's.

"He is truly the one of legend, the bringer of the end." Ralis stepped down from his specter of a horse, followed by Zelda and Ganon. Dimitri was sitting on the throne with his chin resting on his fist like a sculpture. He hadn't even shown he knew they were there. "Dimitri, come face me and settle this decade long score. I am here to stop you and I will succeed!!"

**"Bold words, mortal." **Dimitri didn't move. **"Your crusade to slay me will end in ruin, such as the future of this realm, and the other realms I will conquer again, like I did five thousand years ago."**

"I won't let that happen." Ganon stepped forward with his pulsating sword of pure darkness. "I struggled to conquer this kingdom myself and I'll be damned if I'm going to let anyone else do it."

**"You're right. You will be damned. Damned to an eternity of suffering at my hands if you stand in my way, Ganon." **Dimitri still hadn't budged. **"It is my desire to see the destruction of all things sentient besides the ones I choose. As of now, the only one I choose to live is my queen, the beautiful Ashei."**

"As dedicated and devoted as she was to the true Dimitri, she would never stay by your side." Zelda moved in between Ralis and Ganon. They would stand together in defiance of fate. "Please wake up Dimitri!!"

**"As I told the former Great Fairy before I rid this world of her, the original Dimitri will never return. The only Dimitri is the one before you, the one who has embraced his role in history." **Dimitri finally stood up and faced the three resisters. He spread his expansive, all-encompassing wings as far as they could go and threw his arms up in a sign of confidence. **"The role that will lead him into the annals of history I write. One guardian is already dead, so there is nothing the other two can do to stop me. I will kill you if you do not submit now."**

"I will never submit to you Dimitri." Ralis bent his knees slightly. "I taught you everything you know. I know how you think, no matter how bloodthirsty it may be. Every thought that may ever stem into your head, I will already know about just by reading everything about you."

"And I will not let my triforce of power kill me. I have yet to reclaim it from you when you took it seven years ago." Ganon waved his blade with one hand. "I am the Twili guardian and I will not let this injustice pass."

**"Then your death is inevitable. I was willing to let you live for a little while longer to see the joining of the realms, but I am sure you would not enjoy that as much as I will." **Dimitri put his hands on his twin Claymores on his hips. **"Who would like to take the first swing?"**

"Please Demi, don't do this." Zelda pleaded one last time as Ganon and Ralis bolted into action.


	12. Part Eleven

Rusl had carried Ashei on his back and showed no sign of slowing down. Shad and Midna studied the symbols that Shad had managed to write down before the flood and worked on translating them.

"These symbols keep repeating but I have no idea what they mean and no basis to work with now." Shad explained as Midna tried to make sense of any of it. "If we just had some kind of decoding mechanism…"

"Not likely. The only ones capable of even hoping to translate that would be the former Great Fairy but I know she wouldn't be willing to help us."

"Yeah…" Shad began to lose hope.

"Wouldn't Zelda know some of it, now that she's the Great Fairy?" Rusl suggested from ahead of them.

"Maybe. I don't know." Midna answered him. They emerged from the forests to the great plains south of Hyrule Castle. They looked into the distance and saw that the castle was missing from the skyline. "What's going on?"

"I don't know." Shad stepped up next to Rusl. They exchanged glances and returned their eyes to the horizon. They could see a smoke plume that had weakened but it remained hazy. Not a single stone of the castle was visible. "We were too late, weren't we?"

"God damn it!!" Midna cried out. They kept moving and came to a hill with a vista. It provided them with an advantageous view of Castle Town, or rather, where Castle Town used to be. It was all ash on the ground. The castle that had once withstood an assault of millions of rebels was completely destroyed. No stone was left standing. All that was visible was the crater of its complete destruction. "Dimitri… how could you?"

"It wasn't his fault." Rusl kept moving toward the ruins. Ashei still slept on his back, not knowing of anything that had happened. "There's nothing left at all…"

"Then Azaan…" Shad stammered. "The King is dead?"

"Very likely." Rusl kept calm and collected, but Midna and Shad felt what must have been going through his mind. "Let's search the ashes for clues of any kind."

"We're not going to find anything." Midna said with much pessimism. "What is there to find? A skeleton? Some bones?"

Shad moved toward her, but his foot struck something as they crossed the point of where the outer walls of the castle had once been. It was a dull sound and he kicked it again. He bent down and brushed the ash away.

"Um, I think I found something." Shad unearthed a large dark blade. It was easily five foot long and bore the eternal mark of the Twili. He tried to lift it, but it was way too heavy for him. "Midna. Come here."

"What is it?" She turned to him and Rusl followed. Shad pointed down to the blade and Midna's eyebrows raised in confusion. "That's Ganon's trademark sword. No one else could even lift it."

Midna bent down and ran her fingers along the edge. It was said to cut into one's very soul with a single cut. She touched the handle and wrapped her hand around the hilt. Even though she knew that she wouldn't be able to pick it up, she tried anyway.

"Whoa!" She let out when the blade weighed next to nothing and she swung it through the air like it was a blade of grass. "Now how did that happen?"

"I have no idea." Rusl stepped back as Midna swung the dark sword around in circles.

Out of nowhere, a hand reached up through the ash where the sword had been and latched onto Midna's leg. Midna cried in surprise and looked down. It was a large hand that had blood. Midna tried to pull away but the hand was much too powerful.

"Get off god damn it!!" Midna yelled as Shad and Rusl tried to free her. They pulled on the arm and unearthed it up to the shoulder. They dug up the ash and dirt and found the owner of the sword. They pulled Ganon out of the ground with a lot of effort.

"My apologies Midna." Ganon breathed fresh air for what seemed like the first time in ages. "I sensed someone's presence but I couldn't get out of the ground. I'm glad you moved my sword or I would have been fucked."

"What happened?" Midna set his sword down beside him.

"It was Dimitri. He's the demon now. He's already transformed past the point of return. He will either stay like he is now or we have to kill him. Ralis was the only one who was doing anything effective." Ganon lay on his back while they sat around him. Rusl set Ashei down on a blanket. "He hit me once and I couldn't continue. He wields power that no one will ever be able to match or achieve. He fought Ralis hand to hand for about five minutes but was able to strike him down."

"So he's dead?" Shad asked.

"I don't know. He spared him for a while. He told him to stick around a while and watch as his beloved Hyrule became a place of nightmares and hellish tortures. Zelda tried to stop him too…" Ganon trailed off.

"What happened to her?" Rusl inquired.

"I really don't know. He hit me so hard while I was incapacitated that it drove me straight into the ground, hence why I was like that. I think he left Ralis on the ground bleeding and let the castle burn down around him. I don't know what became of him." Ganon continued. "All that was left to stop him was Zelda. I don't think Zelda was able to even slow him down."

"It doesn't seem like it…" Midna stood back up and looked around. "Well, Ganon. Does this meet your fancy?"

"No it does not." Ganon was confused by her tone. "Why ask me that?"

"Because this is exactly what you tried to do years ago." She answered him, proving a point to herself. "Now look at what it would have brought. This castle stood for five thousand years. It was said to have been built upon celebration of the slaying of the demon the first time."

"I remember." Ganon continued to watch her.

"And upon celebration of slaying the demon this time, this castle will be rebuilt. You will be there to help." Midna declared. "Now where would Dimitri go next?"

"…maybe to his manor in Peak Province?" Shad spoke up quietly. Everyone looked to him with intent looks. "What?"


	13. Part Twelve

Link tossed and turned on the floor in front of the fire. His slumber was wrought with nightmares that rattled him to the very core. His brother had become a demon that no one could stop. Over and over, Dimitri killed him in his nightmares, masked in a hellish form.

"Dimitri… please stop…" He whimpered while remaining asleep. The very presence of the manor was morphing his dreams now, becoming visions, premonitions. He struggled to get away from all of it.

"Link." A cool, soothing voice seeped into his mind. It was so beautiful. He thought it to be Midna, simply waking him from a bad nightmare so he could go visit his brother. "Wake up Link."

His eyes slowly opened. He looked straight ahead, into the burning fire. He managed to grasp that he was in Dimitri's manor, and that someone woke him up. He was drenched in a strangely cold sweat.

"Link." This time, the voice made him jump. He sprung up, alert and cautious. He looked behind himself, and found Creina, standing bare except the fur blanket she slept on wrapped around her waist and a look of concern on her face. "I heard you all the way in the other room."

"I'm sorry." Link immediately looked away from her, slightly blushing. Her body was perfect. He couldn't help but feel attracted to her. "You should have found some clothes in the closets."

"I don't care. You remember that I am normally dressed like this." Creina stepped closer.

"True. But you always had your wings wrapped around you." Link pointed out, feeling her draw closer. "You are beautiful Creina."

"Thank you Link." She stood in front of him now while he looked to the side. "Are you shy?"

"Kind of." Link admitted, not wanting to be unfaithful to his wife Midna. Creina put her hands on the sides of his face. "Hey."

"Hey." She smiled and pinched his cheeks. He flinched and rubbed his face. He looked at her in the eyes. "You thought I was going to do something, didn't you?"

"You were awfully close." Link smiled a little. "What was that for then?"

"You need to let off some stress, kid." She put the last word out there to taunt him. He stepped toward his sword that was lying in a chair.

"And how do you suggest that I do that?" Link asked, putting his sword on his back.

"I don't know. You just have that worried expression." Creina looked out the window at the seemingly endless snow covered tundra. "I wonder Demi lives in a place like this?"

"Probably because it's where Ashei was raised." Link shrugged and adjusted his gauntlets. He moved to stand beside Creina and looked out the window as well.

"Or maybe because it is a haven where he can escape everything…" They heard a voice from behind them. They looked and found a bloodied Ralis with an unconscious Zelda in his arms. "We need to get the hell out of here…"

"Ralis?!" Link and Creina exclaimed at the same time. Ralis had several lacerations covering his body. In between his gashes were evident stab wounds. They rushed to him just as he lost strength in his legs. They caught him and Link took Zelda.

"What happened?!" Link laid Zelda by the fire. She didn't have any warmth and a very faint heartbeat. "She's hypothermic and almost not breathing. What happened Ralis?!"

"It was Dimitri…" Ralis felt weaker and weaker as Creina set him in a chair. "He has become the demon we all feared."

"I know." Creina examined his body. "I don't think there is anything we can do…"

"I can try some very crude surgery…" Link threw his sword in the fire to heat it up. "I don't know how effective it will be."

"It worked for me. Get ready to do that and I will tend to Zelda." Creina ordered. She unclothed Zelda and wrapped her in several blankets. "So what transpired when you faced him?"

"He has already assumed full demon form. We couldn't do anything to faze him. He struck me down first, in the blink of an eye. He buried Ganon and then began to mentally assault Zelda…" His eyes grew moist. He had once been in love with Zelda, before his heart had returned to the darkness. "He played endless mind games with her. She couldn't take the pain. His words held her in a sort of paralysis."

"How did you get away?" Link pulled out his knife and cut away Ralis' upper tunic. "Lay back. This is going to hurt like hell. You seem to have some pieces of rubble and ash in your wounds. I need to get it out."

"Ok. We got away because Dimitri hesitated." Ralis winced as Link began to cut foreign material out of his body. "He was about to execute Zelda and then he stopped. He dropped his Claymore and yelled to the sky. It seemed like he was yelling at someone… He asked why he was doing what he was doing. He looked at Zelda told her to get as far away as possible and find Ashei."

"We have no idea where Ashei is…" Creina moved Zelda closer to the fire.

"Neither did she." Ralis grunted through the pain. "She used the last bit of energy she had left to transport us to the foot of the mountains. I felt someone's presence here so I brought her all the way up on my back. She didn't once wake up."

"I can see why. She's hypothermic." Creina rubbed Zelda to try and generate some heat. "What of Ganon?"

"I didn't sense his death, but I can't help but feel that he has passed. I don't really think anyone could survive Dimitri's tremendous demonic strength." Ralis winced as Link continued to cut. The pain was intense, and he felt as if he were about to blackout. "God damn it, Link! What are you doing?!"

"What is needed to be done. These wounds will get infected if I don't." Link didn't relent. Creina continued to try and warm Zelda.

"Link!!" Creina yelled as she checked Zelda's pulse. There wasn't one. "She's not breathing and her heart is stopped!!"

"Shit!" Link stopped work on Ralis and swiftly moved to Zelda. He laid her on the nearest table and pulled back the blankets around her. Her pale, naked form lay on the table, not breathing. Link didn't take notice to anything other than saving her life.

"What are you doing?" Ralis couldn't move due to the pain. He watched as Link put his ear to her chest and tried to detect any sign of life, but to no avail. "What's going on?"

"Shut up Ralis!" Link tried to resuscitate the goddess. His mind was racing. How could a Goddess die like this?

"Link…" Creina grabbed his left hand. "You know what needs to be done."

"No. I can do it without using it." Link took his hand back and ignored the triforce seared into the back of it. He kept trying.

"Link." Creina said with authority. Link hung his head.

"Fine." Link admitted defeat. He put his left hand on Zelda's chest over her heart. The triforce gleamed with ethereal light and flowed into Zelda. The mark of the triforce of courage left his hand, and transferred to Zelda's chest.

"Did you just…?" Ralis tried to comprehend what just happened. Link finished the transfer and then staggered slightly from the table. He collapsed against a wall and fell to the floor.

"Link!" Creina rushed to his side, and found he was completely lifeless.

Zelda's eyes began to flutter slightly. Warmth returned to her body and her eyes fully opened. She sat up and looked around. She felt a draft and looked down. She noticed that her shapely body was completely exposed. But that's not what caught her attention. She saw the image of the triforce over her heart.

"NO!!" Zelda turned toward Link and Creina on the floor. "Why Link?!"

She folded her luminescent turquoise wings around herself and stood from the table. She went to Link's side and began to cry.

"Why did he do it?" She looked into Creina's eyes.

"To save you." Creina personally couldn't stand Zelda, who had taken her place as the Great Fairy of Hyrule, but she knew that Zelda was crucial and a dear friend of Link and Dimitri. "I think it was wasted."

"It was…" Zelda grabbed Link's body and cried harder. He had done so much for this world. This was a death that would rattle Hyrule to the very core. "I wasn't worth it Link…"

"Zelda…" Ralis struggled to comfort her. Creina stood and walked outside into the biting blizzard. Zelda kept crying for a fallen hero.


	14. Part Thirteen

The air was beginning to take on a dark hue as chaos and discord began to run rampant through Hyrule. Dimitri, or rather the demon he was now, held himself above the darkening land.

_**You see now the power I command. It won't be long until you all bow to me. I have waited for 5,000 years for this moment.**_

__He smiled to himself, but then he felt something strange. It was the triforce of courage. His host felt pain at the passing of his brother. He felt the transfer of the triforce from Link to Zelda to save her life. Poor bastard gave up his life to save someone who will die again.

_You won't succeed in this. _Dimitri's voice cut through the demon's thoughts. _Zelda, Ashei, and the others will stop you._

_**They won't stop me. Or rather, they won't stop you. All of this is your fault remember? **_The demon responded.

_They know its not me doing this. _Dimitri pointed out. _They know of your presence in my mind. You've been there ever since I was born, trying to prod me toward the darkness._

_**And I finally succeeded. You are so weak in your mind. You have all of this power, intelligence, speed, and cunning, but no fortitude. I overwhelmed you so easily. **_The demon's thoughts pierced through to the place in the back of its mind where the true Dimitri was locked away. _**And now you will be rewritten in history as the demon who ruled for eternity over the joined realms, sewn with the seeds of darkness and chaos.**_

_I should have killed myself and saved Hyrule all of this. _Dimitri grew angry with himself.

_**Where would be the fun in that? You would never have been a hero, or rather a ruler now. You would have missed out on all of this divine glory and retribution for everything you have done. **_The demon chided. _**Besides, without me, you never would have killed your parents. You never would have had the guts to do it. That's why you let me do it.**_

___Shut up. It was the second biggest mistake in my life. _Dimitri tried to silence the truth.

_**And what was the biggest? **_The demon smiled internally. _**Falling in love with The Great Fairy? Or rather the 'The Traitor'?**_

___How many times do I have to tell you to shut up?! _Dimitri tried to command the demon in control of his body. _They will stop you, and they will kill you._

_**Only you would think something so stupid like that. You saw what I did to Ralis, Ganon, and the Great Fairy. I disabled Zelda without raising my hand, or voice for that matter. **_The demon snorted proudly. _**You know what comes next in this fucking farce.**_

___Ashei… Help me… _Dimitri called as the demon laughed at his outburst of weakness.


	15. Part Fourteen

"Tell me again why the hell we have to trek this mountain?" Ganon still felt the pain of his injuries suffered from Dimitri. "Its cold and it feels like my blood is turning to ice."

"Shut up. I feel the presence of the triforce." Midna said from the lead position with Ganon's enormous blade over her shoulder. "We get there, reunite with Link, and plan what we do next."

"It was bad enough having to cross those damn prairies now overrun with shit I've never seen before…" Ganon referred to the now rampant demons that patrolled the land of Hyrule. They each had the strength of 50 Twili messengers. "How much farther is it?"

"Not much." Rusl said from his position between Midna and Ganon. He still carried Ashei on his back, now wrapped in as many blankets as possible. "We just swing around this pass coming up and down into the valley that holds the manor."

"Fine." Ganon struggled to keep up with Midna's surprisingly demanding pace. He noticed that the former Twili Princess seemed to have gained new strength lately. She whipped his sword around like it was a butter knife while he could not even lift it anymore. "How's the 'Queen of the Damned' doing?"

"That's enough!" Midna grew tired of the man's mouth and the way he referred to Ashei.

"She's fine." Rusl replied and looked to Shad, who clutched his book to his chest for some kind of warmth. "How are you?"

"Cold…" Shad tried to smile. They came to the opening of the pass and looked through. They saw smoke rising from the manor chimney down in the valley. "Finally, some sign of progress."

"We still have to get there." Midna didn't stop.

"But we're not alone…" Ganon stopped moving, able to feel a shaking that the others couldn't until a minute later.

"Being here and making it there are two different things." An ironically cold voice whistled like the howling wind. The shaking became a quaking while the snow and ice beneath them cracked. The group looked beneath their feet and could see the fissures expanding rapidly. Ganon and Midna jumped forward while Rusl, with Ashei on his back, and Shad moved backward, separating them.

"And why do you gather up here?" The voice continued. "Your enemy is nearing. He wants Ashei. When he gets her, you will all die."

"The hell I will!!" Ganon shouted into the air. Midna grabbed his shoulder to quiet him. "I'm going to defeat Dimitri and rid Hyrule of this scourge!"

"Damn it Ganon, shut up!" Midna knew whatever confronted them now was extremely powerful, and they needed any help they could get. A golden light radiated from the chasm. They each had to shield their eyes from the divine emission.

"Then we may be able to assist you." A different, female voice answered.

"We?" Midna looked at Ganon. The light died down and four glowing orbs came from below ground.

"The spirits…" Shad recognized these protective entities that resided within the different provinces of Ordon, Faron, Eldin, and Lanaryu in Hyrule.

"You mean from the springs?" Rusl referred to the springs where people prayed to these spirits and they were summoned by Link during his first adventure to save the Kingdom.

"Yeah. But why are they way out here? This isn't considered part of Hyrule." Shad acknowledged.

"To answer your question," The female voice addressed Shad loud enough for them all to hear. "We have taken sanctuary here, for we were driven from out ancestral homes by the reawakened demon. We could not stay for he would have enslaved us and used us to manipulate the nature of our lands."

"So you ran." Ganon said with contempt. Midna gripped his arm even harder.

"We did." The male voice replied. "Would you rather have our help now or us as your enemy?"

"Ganon." Midna said with an edge to her voice. She looked back to the orbs, now solidifying the ancient forms of animals. "We would greatly appreciate your help."

"Then our resources are yours. But let us warn you, we are not as powerful as we once were, and if we were to be in Hyrule, our strength would increase ten fold." The form of Lanaryu molded into the giant snake form that Link had seen in his journeys.

"Thank you wise ones." Rusl bowed his head slightly in their presence.

"Do not thank us. Thank her." Eldin, in the form of a bird, motioned to the still unconscious Ashei. "She holds our lives in her hands, and will make the decision to either save us, or destroy us."

"What?" Midna didn't understand. Judging by the looks on everyone else's face neither did they.

"Ashei is what the demon desires." Eldin came closer to Rusl and Ashei. "He wishes to make her his queen, and then eradicate the ones who stand against him. Then he will unite the realms again like 5,000 years ago."

"And our realm will lose its splendor, being overrun by the demons of the Sacred Realm and the darkness of the Twili Realm." Faron added, who bore a monkey as its form.

"Wait… You say demons from the Sacred Realm?" Shad was confused. "You mean those things out in the fields are from the holiest of places, the Sacred Realm?"

"Indeed." Ganon smirked. "You're little conception of the Sacred Realm is just a bedtime story that lulls people into a sense of security so that they don't really know what lies there."

"Ganon." Lanaryu looked at him with intensity in its snake eye slits.

"What is he talking about?" Midna had heard the stories of a prosperous realm that only the holiest and pious of beings could gain entry. A place of light and peace.

"He is merely trying to scare you and intimidate you." Ordona came in the form of a ram and hovered between Ganon and Midna. "Isn't that so?"

"Shut your mouth. I've seen the horrors there. You all fucking sent me there twice!!" Ganon became enraged. At the wave of a wing, Eldin silenced Ganon with a mystical power.

"He is just bitter." Eldin said as Ganon tried to choke out words, most likely telling Eldin where to go and what to do to himself. "We mean that these demons were corrupted souls from the Sacred Realm, being controlled by Dimitri."

"Then let's not waste time." Midna felt something was wrong. "We need to get to the manor and find out who is there."

"Then let us proceed. We will attach ourselves to each of you and dwell within your weapons, giving you more strength." Lanaryu declared. "I will travel with Ganon, possibly keep him in check. Eldin will go with Midna, Ordona with Rusl, and Faron with Shad. Now let us be on our way. You may speak with any one of us at any time, merely say our names, and we will respond."

They continued down the snowy slopes with caution and finally arrived at the manor where smoke was billowing from the chimney. Midna heard crying inside and drew the sword that had been Ganon's.

She nodded to Ganon, who wielded a simpler, smaller sword now. Ganon kicked the door in and Midna rushed in. Her instincts honed by her experiences told her that there was no evident threat. The pair moved down the halls, looking in every room. They traversed staircases and came to the main living room where Dimitri and Ashei spent most of their time holding each other in front of the fire.

When they came to the threshold of the room, they could sense movement. Ganon motioned to Midna and her eyes met his.

"Fan to the left, I'll go right." His lips formed the words, but no sound came due to the need for stealth. Midna nodded and braced herself. Ganon's lips moved again. "One, two… three."

Midna shot into the room and tried to take action, but she was taken by surprise when she felt a powerful, feminine hand grab her throat and push her straight back into the wall. Another hand wrenched the sword from her hand, letting it fall to the floor under the weight of its darkened steel.

"Damn it Midna…" She recognized the voice as the former Great Fairy's. She held Midna a foot off the ground against the wall. Midna looked over toward Ganon and found that he was in the same situation, except Ralis was the aggressor. "You scared us."

"We scared you? I think I just had a heart attack…" Midna let a small smile of relief show, even though she still considered her a threat.

"Be glad it was only a heart attack." Midna heard a heavenly voice she knew to be Zelda's. "Creina would have likely torn your head off if she hadn't recognized you."

"They call you Creina now?" Midna asked as she was set down.

"Yes. It was my name during the time of the last awakening of the demon." Creina hid something in the way that her eyes moved from Zelda to Midna. "I think you should go talk to Zelda…"

"I think we all should." Midna picked up her sword and leaned it against the wall.

"No, I mean you alone." She put her hand between Midna's shoulder blades and guided her toward Zelda.

"Umm… Okay." Midna followed Zelda up another set of stairs.

"What was that all about?" Ganon motioned from the window for Shad and Rusl to come in and bring Ashei. Ralis and Creina remained mute. "Seriously. What the hell is it?"

"We've had our first casualty…" Creina looked away from Ganon's dark eyes. "And I'm sad to think you might find pleasure in who it was…"

"Wait… you can't mean…" Ganon surmised that it was his arch enemy, the Hero of Time. "Damn it…"

Creina and Ralis looked to the floor as Rusl and Shad came into the room and laid Ashei in front of the fire. Creina Came to her sleeping form and covered her with fur blankets. She pulled the hair out of her eyes and studied her for a moment.

"How did it happen?" Ganon pulled Ralis into an empty room away from the others.

"Zelda teleported me and herself from the castle when we were about to be killed by Dimitri… I brought her all the way up the mountain but she was out cold and hypothermic. She wouldn't wake up or give a response of any kind." Ralis closed the door behind them. "When we got here, Link and Creina were already here. They were plotting what to do next after healing their wounds."

"Then what?" Ganon pushed, eager to learn what had finally killed Link, a task he had never been able to accomplish.

"He gave his life in a selfless act of passion and kindness." Ralis gave a saddened smile. "He transferred his life and the triforce of courage to Zelda. He sacrificed himself so that Zelda could aid us in the fight to come."

"You dumb bastard…" Ganon cursed at the fallen hero. He had always thought that Link would die at his hands and felt a sense of discontent that it was not he that ended Link's life. "Was there no other way?"

"Creina said there wasn't…" Ralis recalled. They looked at each other quickly. "Midna…"


	16. Part Fifteen

"What is it Zelda?" Midna walked behind Zelda up the stairs into Dimitri and Ashei's bedroom. She said nothing as they entered the room. Midna saw a blanket roughly pulled over the bed, covering something. A feeling of anticipation and uncontrollable dread washed over her. "What is this Zelda?"

"I'm sorry Midna…" She took Midna's hand and then pulled off the blanket.

"God no!!" Midna collapsed at the sight of her deceased husband. She could tell he had already passed by the way his chest did not rise and fall and the color of his skin. She began crying uncontrollably and her body was wracked with convulsions of grief. "Why… Link…"

"Midna… Please Midna." Zelda began crying again and she put her arms around Midna. She held her close and shared the pain once more. She sat behind Midna while embracing her and whispering in her ear. "Midna…. Please calm down. You need to know how he passed… And we need you for what's coming."

"But… Link… My world…" Midna choked out between cries. Zelda held her tighter and tried to console her. She unfolded her wings and wrapped them around them as they sat on the stone floor.

"Midna. You were the Twilit Princess, you've braved just as much as any of us. Link would have wanted you to gather your strength and ready yourself for the coming battles." Zelda stroked the side of her face and wiped away some of her tears. "We need you."

"I need him…" Midna kept sobbing. "I loved him more than anything this life could ever hope to offer."

"I understand how you feel… I've felt that way before…" Zelda felt her memories stirring.

"You still feel that way…" Midna seemed to be able to read Zelda's thoughts. "You miss him…"

"Who?" Zelda did not want to say his name for fear that emotion would wash over her as it did occasionally when she was alone.

"You miss Dimitri." Midna seemed to have calmed down slightly. "It hurts you to see him. It hurts you to think of him with Ashei…"

"You are wiser than I thought." Zelda managed to smile slightly while her eyes grew misty.

"It's why you couldn't strike at him at the Castle." Midna said, knowing it was the truth. "You couldn't even say a harsh word, even though it was the demon in control. You love him that much."

"Yes… I know…" Zelda let her own tears fall again, the holy nectar that healed the most grievous of wounds. It was Midna's turn to wipe away Zelda's tears. "I would give my life for him to return to normal. And I would give my life back to Link if I could…"

"What do you mean?" Midna still did not know how her husband had died.

"I was on the brink of death, and Link sacrificed himself to bring me back. He transferred his life and the triforce of courage to me…" Zelda felt guilty. She felt as if she had killed him with her own hands. Midna said nothing as it sank in. "I'm sorry Midna… I would gladly give it back if it were possible."

"That's just like him…" Midna leaned back into Zelda and closed her eyes. "Always had to be a hero, giving up anything necessary."

"I know…" Zelda still held Midna. "But what kind of world would be worth fighting for if it weren't for people like him?"

"Shut up Zelda…" Midna smiled and looked up at Hyrule's holy guardian. "He made my life worth living. And he gave you your life. What kind of wife would I be if I didn't honor his decision and fight to avenge him?"

"That's what I was looking for." Zelda returned the smile. "Just remember that his heart was always yours. He would have given the same, if not more, for you."

"I know. That's what love is. You know that." Midna closed her eyes again and her breathing slowed. "I will avenge him."

"So will I." Zelda declared. She soon felt the rhythmic breathing pattern of sleep settle into Midna lying against her. She smiled and leaned backward against the wall behind them. She folded her wings up over Midna and kept holding her closer. "Sleep well Midna. You're going to need it."


	17. Part Sixteen

"So Link is dead?" Rusl asked Ganon as Shad and Ralis sat at a table near them.

"I'm afraid so." Ganon admitted and stared into the fireplace. The flames dancing mesmerized him, taking his mind off the real danger at hand. He remembered the way he watched the dark flames burn the Twilit Realm down when he had come to power. He was just as much hypnotized now as he was then. "I'm sure Zelda is tending to Midna."

"She'll need it." Shad said and he laid his book on the table. "Maybe we should ask _them_?"

"Who is _them_?" Ralis asked looking across the table at the cryptologist.

"The guardian spirits who have joined our cause." Ganon said with a shallow grimace. "The guardians of the land of Hyrule."

"You mean… Ordona, Faron, Eldin, and Lanaryu?" Ralis probed.

"Correct." A disembodied voice resounded. Three orbs appeared from Ganon's, Shad's, and Rusl's weapons. "We have forged a bond to unite and destroy the demon."

"You've got to be shitting me…" Ralis snorted. "Wait, there's only three of you."

"Eldin is with Midna." Lanaryu's voice pointed out. "She'll be back when they rejoin us. For now, let us discuss the consequences and plan our next plan of action."

"Always to the fucking point, aren't you?" Ralis was disgusted by the thought of these so called protective deities that had been inactive for years helping them now. "Why the fuck do you care? Where the hell have you been for that matter?! You never tried to stop the things in the past. You barely helped Link the first time when he was traveling to defeat Ganon!"

"We were indisposed by the Twilit energy flowing into Hyrule." Ordona gave their rebuttal.

"My ass!" Ralis fired back. Everyone merely watched and listened as the argument continued between Ralis and the three glowing orbs. "You have been able to move and act freely this whole time. You chose not to take action. You knew of the demon's presence and resurgence this whole time!!"

"You are mistaken. We knew of the eventual resurgence, but we did not know when or where." Ordona responded again. "And we have not been able to act freely."

"Are you believing any of this shit?!" Ralis looked to Ganon first, saw that his eyes were locked with his own. Their gazes flashed hundreds of thoughts to each other, to be deciphered at another time. He then looked at Shad and Rusl. They were passively awaiting the outcome of such conflict. "This is just too much. You are lying to us. There is something going on here and I'm going to get to the bottom of this. Just watch."

Ralis stood abruptly and walked out of the room. He kicked a chair over on the way out. They could hear other things being kicked and slammed to the ground.

"Well, what do we do about him?" Shad asked the spirits.

"Give him some time. He will soon realize that he is merely being paranoid." Faron said gently. "Ashei will awaken soon and we must tell her what all has happened while she's been out."

"I think we can do that." Rusl motioned to himself and Shad. Shad nodded in agreement.

"Good. We will go with Ganon and try to reason with Ralis. Creina is on the roof if you need her. Why she's up there, we don't know. She missed Ralis' little show." Lanaryu pondered. "If you'll excuse us."

The three orbs fazed into Ganon's sword and he walked out the same way Ralis had exited. Shad and Rusl exchanged worried glances.

"This is some deep shit." Rusl couldn't help but smile with uneasiness. Shad looked to his book. "I'll go get Creina and see if she can help with any of this."

"Okay. I'll be here in case she wakes up." Shad stood and stepped toward the fire and where Ashei lay, still unconscious.


	18. Part Seventeen

The snow was falling even harder and the wind picked up to stir it into a blizzard. The weather was taking a turn for the worse. Creina stood outside with only a low cut tunic and leather shorts on. She didn't feel the biting cold against her elegant skin. She knew what had transpired inside between the spirits and Ralis.

"And yet you were right Ralis…" She ignored her hair whipping around her face and blankly stared off into the growing whiteout. She felt that she might find the answers she was looking for in the blank environment. One question nagged at her ever since she betrayed Hyrule.

_Why did you betray Hyrule? Why did you use the resistance members? Why did you release Ganon? Why did you hurt Dimitri? _The voices haunted her. But then her darker desires would answer them. _This world is fucked anyway. The demon will burn this realm in unholy infernos. Our child would have ruled the tri-realm for all eternity. Think of it!!_

She cursed under her breath. This world was so confusing. These emotions and feelings tugged at her from every direction, threatening to tear apart her very being. Damn these compulsions! She hungered for power, but at the same time, she hungered for the love that Dimitri had shown her was possible.

Her thoughts lingered on Dimitri. He was the once in a million years man that bore unmatched speed, strength, cunning, intelligence, reflexes… Everything anyone could ever ask for was had by this man. One she considered to be a god among men. His word could destroy a person's life. He had an unparalleled way of attracting women as well.

She smiled slightly. He had attracted her, not even a mortal at the time. Before her was Zelda, princess of Hyrule. Now he had Ashei, a beautiful and powerful warrior. She knew that Zelda still harbored the same unbridled love and affection for him that she had when their love was at its peak.

_Damn you Dimitri! _She yelled within her mind. She couldn't bear to admit what she felt. She wasn't even supposed to have feelings. _I still love you… But I also hate you…_

He was a lucky man, achieving the love of three beautiful women. Women that would die for him, over and over again.

"Creina?!" She heard a voice shouting over the howling wind that she knew belonged to Rusl. She couldn't see through the blizzard but could sense him.

"I'm here." She called back, guiding him with her voice. He came into view, only feet from her. "What are you doing up here?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing." Rusl said now close enough to not have to shout.

"I needed some time to think." She looked back out into oblivion. "A lot of things…"

"Like?" Rusl inquired. She looked back at him with a blank expression. "What?"

"What the fuck do you care?" She asked plainly. He was taken aback. "My thoughts are ones that shouldn't be voiced. I do still have murderous intent."

Rusl looked at the ground and Creina turned her back to him.

"What's really going on here?" Rusl looked at the back of her head. Creina said nothing and made no visible response. "I know you know something. You know everything."

"Wrong." She stopped him. "I know what I need to."

"Then what do you need to know?" Rusl wished she would turn around.

"That you will not live through this." She turned to him and had a strangely caring look on her face. It struck him as odd that she could look like that anymore. "Neither will Shad. Once he deciphers the complete prophesy, he will die by some means or another… You'll die once you've saved your wife and children…"

"How do you know this?" His mouth hung open, ignoring the dropping temperature.

"Because I need to…" She moved past him. "Do not speak a word of this, or it changes the future."

He stood aghast as she went back inside, leaving him in the blizzard. His mind spun. How could that be?


	19. Part Eighteen

Ralis sat in the dark silently in a back room of the manor, fuming about the appearance of the protective spirits of Hyrule. This reeked of hidden motives, cloak and dagger shit. Why are they here? What did they miss?

His thoughts sped up trying to foresee what was next. All three of the guardians chosen to face the demon in Dimitri were here. They should plan their attack now and carry it out before it was too late. He could already feel that Ganon seemed strangely weaker and that Midna had gained power.

_Why would Midna have grown stronger?_ Ralis contemplated. The only explanation was one that he had a hard time accepting. Their roles were being passed on to the next ones most capable representing their respective realm. _That means the former Twilit Princess would be the perfect candidate for Ganon's role._

"Ralis." Ganon came into the room with a calm demeanor. "You need to stop this."

"Don't you realize what's going on?!" Ralis stood quickly. "There are other things against us besides the demon."

"Don't you think I know that?" Ganon said in a hushed roar. "But we need to rid ourselves of Dimitri first. He's the greater threat here."

"You don't know that!" Ralis tried to suppress his rage. "It could be anything. These fucking spirits being here could be a warning sign. Maybe even they conspire against us!"

"Calm yourself Ralis." The three spirits released themselves from Ganon's sword. Ralis cast a glare at Ganon. "Do not blame him. We have kept him under a tight rein for our own means."

"So you're manipulating us at will?" Ralis accused the orbs of light.

"Only when need be. And only when we must keep one as dark as Ganon under control." Lanaryu seemed to become their spokesperson. "If you continue these childish actions, we will do the same to you."

"Try me you bastards." Ralis tensed every muscle in his tightly toned Zora body.

"We are only trying to stop the demon, Ralis." Faron spoke up. "Can't you at least hold off on all of this until we at least vanquish this scourge upon Hyrule?"

"That's exactly what you want isn't it?" Ralis' eyes narrowed. Ganon sent him more messages through their eye contact. He understood as well as Ralis did. "It's you. You sped it up."

"What do you accuse us of?" Ordona's voice had an anxious edge.

"You sped up the resurgence of the demon. You increased the factors. You manipulated Azaan to attack Dimitri at the castle under the guise of playful combat. You've used everyone! You're using us!" Ralis drew his weapon. The orbs solidified into the forms of a large snake, a monkey, and a goat. "You want the demon to unite the realms, then die, leaving no one to withstand the perils of the tri-realm and rule for the rest of time. Then you ambitious spirits will move in to take over. You weren't fleeing anything. You were looking for us."

"How dare you slander us!" Faron started but Lanaryu cut off the monkey spirit.

"Is that what you truly believe? Because if so, bravo. I've never heard such a brilliant conspiracy." Lanaryu put on what many would interpret as a killer's smile. "Perhaps your overactive imagination is due to the time spent teaching Dimitri. Or maybe it's due to your experience in the Sacred Realm itself."

"Just shut up." Ralis back away one small step. "I am not going to stay here and let you call me insane and attempt to control me against my will. It's not happening. I'd rather die."

"Go ahead." Lanaryu said the one thing that Ralis had expected that they could not afford. "Kill yourself. Save us the trouble of having a suspicious Zora prince's blood on our hands."

"Lanaryu…" Ganon stammered.

"Be quiet Ganon." Lanaryu didn't care to look at him. "Besides, how many times have you died before anyway?"

"I said shut. The. Fuck. Up." Ralis struck toward them with his blade and leveled all of the furniture. Ganon dove out of the way through the doorway and took cover. The spirits skirted the attack and merely looked at Ralis placidly. "You will not control me. I will kill the demon, but not before I rid Hyrule of you conniving spirits. How long have you been plotting this?"

"We haven't been plotting anything." Ordona replied.

"Enough Ordona. We can stop feigning obliviousness. He has figured it out." Lanaryu laughed with an echoing maliciousness. "Very well Ralis. You will get you wish. If you can do it."

"Oh I can, like you wouldn't believe." Ralis readied to strike again.

"But let me ask this. Who was it that resurrected you this time?" Lanaryu uncoiled his snake body and looked down at Ralis. Ralis' face showed hesitation and his posture slumped just slightly. "Who was it?"

"I don't know." Ralis said truthfully. He was afraid to ask why this was relevant.

"Then how do you not know that we did it ourselves? We do control life as we see fit, though we usually have that ability revoked by the reigning Great Fairy." Lanaryu explained. Ralis locked his eyes with the golden eye slits Lanaryu bore. "Zelda did not know of this and due to that, we took full advantage. We know the full prophesy Ralis. It was put on your mother's tombstone. You saw it many times, but were unable to read it. You questioned why it was there, and who did it, but never received an answer, did you?"

"Get to the point." Ralis noted Ganon quietly reenter the room. This was all a labyrinth of deceit and words. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"The prophesy was put there by a man we controlled and disposed of soon after. And would you like to know what the true prophesy says?"

"GANON! RALIS!" Someone yelled from another room. They recognized it as Shad. He ran into the room, holding his book of symbols and the prophesy he had written down. His face was in the book and he didn't realize what was going on. "The prophesy says that the guardians will fall under the power of the spirits of Hyrule and that the tri-realm will be ruled by…"

"Shad!!" Ralis cried as Lanaryu made a quick motion toward Shad once he had looked up and saw what was happening. Lanaryu's tail went straight through his chest, impaling his heart. Shad dropped to the floor, dead before he slammed to the stone. "Ganon! Get the hell out of here!"

Ralis ran between Lanaryu and Ganon, shoving Ganon through the door before Lanaryu could strike again. Ganon looked up at Ralis from the floor, seeing tears run down his bluish white Zora cheeks.

"What the hell are you doing?! Get the hell out of here!!" Ralis screamed as he blocked the doorway. Lanaryu's tail ripped through Ralis' stomach and twisted around him, splattering blood everywhere. Ralis fought it and gripped the doorframe, not letting Lanaryu drag him back into the room. "Ganon… Get Ashei… Get her the hell out of here…"

"…sure…" Ganon was dumbstruck, unable to move out of fear.

"She's the trap… They'll possess her and lure Dimitri in…" Ralis' fingers now bled from the force he gripped the doorframe with. "Get Creina, Zelda, Rusl, and Ashei… tell them what happened… Good bye Ganon… It's my time… again…"

With that, Lanaryu was finally able to take Ralis back into the room. Ganon finally willed himself to move. Everything became a blur as he sprinted through the manor that he finally realized was enormous.

"Stop him!" Lanaryu said over Ralis' curses. Ordona and Faron obeyed and fazed through wall to pursue Ganon. Lanaryu looked down at the struggling Ralis. "Good bye, Ralis. Your mind was on par with that of Dimitri, or even our own."

Lanaryu bent down and placed Ralis' head in his jaws, and gave him a bloody, final death with a clamping of his jaws together. Ganon could hear the sickening crack from Ralis skull as he ran.

"Damn it Ralis! If you had just kept it in!" He had considered Ralis to be a true comrade, someone he had admired and respected. He felt Faron and Ordona closing in behind him. He ignored the tears of anguish at the corners of his eyes. "At this point, I think I would welcome Dimitri…"

His pace found him back in the living room with the fire blazing. In front of the fire, Creina tended to Ashei. Creina looked up as he barreled through the room.

"Let's go!!" Ganon picked up Ashei and wrapped her in a blanket.

"What the hell's going on?" Creina stood quickly. Her question was answered when Faron and Ordona came through the wall, their eyes glowing red. "It's starting already?!"

"Where's Rusl, Midna, and Zelda?!" Ganon ran with Ashei in his arms and Creina close behind.

"Zelda and Midna are up here!" Creina ran in front of Ganon and headed up a large staircase. "Rusl is on the roof."

Ganon found it a challenge to climb the stairs, even though Ashei was very light. They looked back and saw that the two spirits were gaining on them. They came to the top of the staircase and took a left.

"Where's Ralis?" Creina said, apparently not even winded yet from running.

"Dead. Lanaryu killed him." Ganon managed to say without feeling the sting in the corners of his eyes. They could practically feel the spirits' breath on their necks.

"And Shad?" Creina grabbed Ganon's arm and slung him into a room around a sudden corner, hopefully leading Faron and Ordona the wrong way.

"Dead." Ganon whispered as he saw their ghostly luminescent bodies pass by the door. "He had figured out what the prophesy truly says…"

Creina said nothing and only looked through the doorway. She saw nothing. She motioned to Ganon to bring Ashei.

"Two doors up on the left. They're in there." Creina pointed to the door. They moved quickly and quietly to their destination. They silently slipped into the room, checking to make sure they hadn't been found.

"What's going on?" Zelda held Midna as she slept against her.

"No time. Let's go. We need to find Rusl and get the hell out of here." Creina kneeled beside them. She shook Midna slightly and her eyes began to flutter. "Midna. We need to go."

"Creina! Wait!" Ganon remembered what he thought he had forgotten. Midna's eyes were red and her face twisted slightly. "Eldin!"

"But of course." Midna's voice was slightly hollow. Eldin had possessed her while she slept. "Faron! Ordona!"

The two spirits emerged from the walls and had eerie smiles on their animal faces. Ganon exhaled with anger. Midna stood from where she had been laying against Zelda and smiled.

"You are too easy to predict." She went to Ganon and looked down at Ashei in his arms. "The dreamer has yet to awaken."

"Get away from her." Zelda stood up and spread out her wings.

"Be quiet." Ordona barked. The spirit waved its hoof and Zelda was forced to her knees. Her arms were pinned behind her back. "All of you."

The possessed Midna took Ashei from Ganon before he was forced to his knees and had his arms constricted as well. Creina fought at it, but it was no use. She suffered the same fate. The three all faced Midna holding Ashei on their knees, their arms pinned.

"My, how smart you all are, submitting to us." Midna set Ashei at her feet and removed the fur blanket. Her breathing was long and deep as she continued to slumber.

"Then all is in order." Lanaryu came through the door, snaking in with blood dripping the length of his body.

"Why are you doing this?" Zelda was confused by all of this. These spirits were benevolent, protective of Hyrule. They had assisted in Link's quest and the sealing of Ganon the first time he broke free of the Sacred Realm.

"If Ralis were here, then I would let him explain, because it was he that first figured it out. Pretty quickly I might add." Lanaryu licked his lips to get all of the blood. "We are going to use Ashei to ensnare the demon in a trap."

"How?" Zelda's arms were beginning to hurt from the position they were in.

"We possess her and go to Dimitri. Then, when he takes her as his queen, he will kill the rest of this realm and unite the three realms. After the realms are united, we kill Dimitri when he is at his weakest after the merging." Lanaryu circled around Ashei and examined her. She bore no mark of injury or sickness. She merely slept. "Once he is dead, we are free to resurrect who and what we want, and rule over the tri-realm. No one to stop us. We kill Ashei once this is done of course."

"I can't believe this." Zelda looked at the floor. "I would have felt something. I would have been able to sense anything like this."

"We allowed you to see only what we wanted you to, Great Fairy of Hyrule. You are young, naïve, and oblivious. You pay no attention to the true inner workings of the worlds in which we all live. At least that traitor over there knew what the hell she was doing." Lanaryu looked to Creina. "This world is better off with her at the helm than you, Zelda. She was there when they sealed the demon the first time. And if she'll remember correctly, so were we."

"We fought as generals in the armies against the demon. We were commanded by the Great Fairy to face the demon hordes and scourges." Ordona spoke up, mentioning Creina. "We were the four greatest warriors in the tri-realm. For our service and loyalty, the holders of the Sacred and Twilit Realms gave us the immortality and powers of governance over Hyrule."

"And yet, how could we not be satisfied?" Midna spoke, voicing the thoughts of Eldin. "Because we saw the power the demon wielded, the sweeping dominance over the tri-realm. We deserve that power. It is ours. We fought for it 5,000 years ago, but only got what we are today."

"I personally could have enjoyed this position." Faron followed Eldin's words. "If it had not been for our exposure to the demon in that final battle."

"Ah… I remember that battle." Lanaryu smiled and came closer to Ashei, sniffing the air above her. "I was nearly slain. The demon struck me with his claw, gouging me to my core, my blood flowing freely from my veins… for then I was but a man."

"That was when the Great Fairy arrived with reinforcements. How lucky we were." Eldin spoke through Midna again. "She struck down the demon, ending the century old nightmare. We were crowned heroes when we returned to our homes, but we were changed forever."

"We all have had the lust for that power. Even you, Creina." Lanaryu snarled, finally taking his attention away from Ashei. "You saved us then, but nothing will save you now."


	20. Part Nineteen

The land was finally starting to turn a lovely shade of brown, everything dying. Everywhere his feet stepped, the ground turned black. He was the poison of this existence. He would bring the world back into the dark age of his reign 5,000 years ago.

Dimitri, now in full demon form, walked slowly and deliberately through the realm of Hyrule, inspecting everything with mere glances. His mind and memory were perfect, not even needing to pay full attention to the degradation occurring here. He found pleasure in knowing that his return had been in fact encouraged by the once believed benevolent protectors of Hyrule.

_**I am indeed grateful for the help. But I will not let your true plans come to fruition, Lanaryu. **_Dimitri smiled to himself and imagined what would be happening between them now. He was pretty sure that the other spirits wouldn't comprehend exactly Lanaryu had planned. Or how they were just being used by their comrade. _**They will bring me Ashei… And I will enjoy driving them out of her. They will learn that the only fate that awaits them is what should have occurred in our last confrontation. I had them in my grasp. Lanaryu himself was as good as dead. The damned Great Fairy!**_

___Talking to yourself again? _The actual Dimitri pierced the demon's thoughts. _That's not healthy you know._

_**Silence. **_The demon pushed him back into the depths of his psyche. _**You are becoming a nuisance. If it were not for your body, then I would have killed you by now.**_

___And yet I haven't heard a single thank you. _Dimitri tested the demon's patience. _What is it that's bothering you so damn much? Your power rules over all and your omniscience sees everything. What the hell is bothering you oh great one?_

_**Enough. You are giving me a headache. **_The demon ducked his questions dripping with obvious sarcasm as he came to the bridge overlooking Lake Hylia. He smiled and recalled when Dimitri had led Azaan and Link to jump off this bridge. He flapped his wings slightly and he hovered onto the edge. _**Remember this Dimitri?**_

___I do. Why do you ask? _The presence advanced outward from the demon's mind slightly.

_**Because I crave to experience the things you have experienced. It has filled me with some anticipation to do these things. **_He folded back his wings into a streamlined shape. He put his armored arms above his head, holding one hand on top of the other. _**What a rush I anticipate this to be!**_


	21. Part Twenty

The whiteout was growing ever worse as darkness began to fall. Whether or not it was natural, Rusl could not tell. He couldn't even see the steam from his breath in front of his face.

What Creina had said, his death coming soon, still weighed on his mind. He felt something was wrong. How could that be? He'd been up here for over an hour in the frigid, deathly cold, thinking. Shad deciphering the prophesy? Saving his own family's lives?

He could have pondered this for days, but there was no way of telling right from wrong. He felt shudders in the manor, as if the foundation itself was being rattled. He felt a pulse go through him and the air like a shockwave.

"What the hell?" He grabbed his sword and ran back into the manor. He heard movement, and voices coming from a room down the hall. It sounded like Lanaryu, Eldin, Midna, and the others. "They might have an idea what's going on."

As he grew closer, he was able to hear them better, hearing the distinction in each voice.

"I don't care what kind of role you think you might have, but it ends here." He identified Lanaryu's voice. He stopped a few steps short of the door so that he could listen further.

"And why do you say that, bastard?" Creina said, seemingly under some kind of strain. He edged toward the door and peeked through the crack. He saw the three spirits besides Eldin and Midna. Then he saw Zelda, Creina, and Ganon on their knees around them. Ashei lay unconscious in the middle of them all.

"What the hell?" Rusl gripped his sword tighter and whispered to himself. He watched as Lanaryu dripped blood everywhere. He looked down at his feet and saw droplets on the floor most likely from him as well. "Gods above…"

"Because I have seen it Creina. I've seen the future." Lanaryu have a sick chuckle. "And I will enjoy seeing it come to pass."

Rusl felt himself tensing every muscle in his body, preparing himself for something his mind was not ready. His grip on his sword turned his knuckles white. He kicked the door so hard, it flew off it's hinges and collided with Lanaryu's snake form. It pushed Lanaryu straight into the wall.

"I was told once that voicing the future changed it." He charged in and brought his sword around, cutting into Faron's body. Though he figured that it didn't cause any pain to the spirits, he still attacked them. At least he would be a distraction.

"It's about damn time!" Creina yelled as the hold over everyone weakened and they broke free. As she sprang to her feet, her hand started to glow turquoise. She drew back her hand and balled it into a fist. She rushed at the possessed Midna and yelled out. "Get the hell out of her!!"

She brought her fist at full speed into Midna's stomach, doubling her over on Creina's shoulder. Eldin was forced from her body with such force that the bird form bearing spirit was sent flying out the room's only window into the blizzard blanketed night. Eldin's exit caused snow and frigid air to enter the room.

"Damn you, Rusl!" Lanaryu pushed the door off of himself. Ganon threw himself onto the snake entity and started punching straight down into his head. Ganon was taking care of Lanaryu and Rusl was taking care of Faron. Creina had taken care of Eldin for a few moments and Zelda was driving Ordona back.

"What's going on?" Midna returned to normal self.

"Relax, dear. You were just possessed by a traitorous spirit." Creina moved to Ashei. "God damn she sleeps heavy."

"Yes she does." Midna agreed. She found the sword she had gotten from Ganon against the wall. She picked it up no problem and put it in her belt. "So what do we do now?"

Creina looked around, seeing the fighting all around her. She let a look of sadness creep onto her face. She didn't see a way out. They needed someone of Dimitri's strength. Or…

"Ashei…" She looked down again. "Quick. Wake her up. It doesn't matter how. Just do it!"

"Umm… Okay…" Midna kneeled beside Creina. They tried shaking her but to no effect. Creina slapped her several times, but it was just as ineffective.

"Damn it Ashei! We need you!" Creina kept trying any way she could think of. "Dimitri needs you!"

Ashei's eyelids flickered, just barely. Midna pointed it out to Creina. The fighting around them was ignored as they held out hope.

"Midna…" Ashei's voice came out, her eyes still closed.

"Thank the Gods!" Midna almost cried.

"Are we in danger?" Ashei sat up and opened her eyes. Her eyes were calmly focused on Midna's. Her eyes were a beautiful, light consuming blue.

"I'm afraid we are…" Creina felt her aura burn the air around all of them. She noticed that the fighting had stopped. Lanaryu held Ganon off the ground with his arm in his jaws, Ordona was pinned by a dresser due to Zelda's magic, and Rusl had Faron impaled on his sword against the wall.

"Shame shame." Ashei said with no emotion. She stood up and faced Lanaryu. "It's all your fault, isn't it?"

"I will not die here!" Lanaryu flung Ganon at her and bolted through the window. Ashei caught Ganon and set him on the floor but she was unable to stop Lanaryu's escape. Ganon's arm was pretty torn up and would need immediate attention.

"Creina. Tend to Ganon." Ashei turned now to the other spirits that Lanaryu had left behind to face her wrath. Ordona and Faron were trapped. "Tell me what you know and you will live."

"We are immortal. Do what you wish, but we will not die." Faron said, grunting from the sword through his body.

"Is that so?" Ashei smiled with a smile that would have unnerved the hardest of criminals. "Then I will personally torture your spirit and until you wish for nothing but death. And don't think I won't or can't do it."

An audible whimper could actually be heard from the two doomed spirits. They heard a flapping sound and they all turned to the broken window.

"Let them go." Eldin had finally returned and fluttered outside the window.

"Eldin!" Faron and Ordona cried in unison.

"You wish to see what I'm capable of?" Ashei questioned to all three entities. She took the golden sword used to seal Ralis away, made from the master sword and Dimitri's claymores, and placed it on her belt. "You'll have to come in and get them."

"How about you join me out here?" Eldin challenged the holder of the triforce of wisdom. He balked slightly when she smiled again.

"Wrong move." Ashei adjusted her signature chain mail. "Stay here and watch them."

Before anyone could say anything, she ran for the window. She jumped from the window sill directly into Eldin.

"Rusl! Go help her!" Creina ordered. She started to examine Ganon's arm while Zelda found material to wrap it.


	22. Part Twenty One

The demon now found himself at the Zora's Reservoir, the place where Dimitri had lived and learned under Ralis when he was the Zora prince. He had enjoyed the dive into the lake and swam all the way up the long rapid filled river to this sanctuary. What he saw now was a poisoned water source, his doing of course, and the hundreds of dead Zoras floating in the nearly black waters.

_You bastard. How could you poison my brothers? _Dimitri was infuriated. He shared a common bond with them, having lived with them for so long. He had learned how to breathe underwater from them. How is still a secret to this day.

_**Save it for someone who cares, Demi. **_He used Dimitri's pet name, given to him originally by Zelda, but his lovers had all called him that. _**Am I driving you mad yet? I can feel your hatred. It's my head too.**_

___It's not your head. It's mine, and mine alone. _Dimitri tried to fight for the hundredth time. His mental efforts were nothing to the time hardened demon's mind. He simply laughed at how weak Dimitri had become.

_**Tell me again about your little Ashei… **_Dimitri felt the demon creep into his own consciousness, penetrating the barrier that separated the two minds.

_Stop!! _Dimitri cried as the demon finally consumed his mind, erasing the Dimitri that had once been.


	23. Part Twenty Two

The blizzard stopped once dawn finally broke. Rusl had been unable to even find Ashei, let alone help her. He stood in several feet of snow, layer upon layer packed beneath his feet.

"Ashei!!" Rusl called out, visibility slowly returning. "Are you out there Ashei!"

He strained his eyes scanning his progressively longer horizon. He looked toward the mountains, hoping to find something. He saw a large bird shaped shadow and held his breath. As the sunlight penetrated further, he saw that the shadow was indeed Eldin, but he was dead. He was also missing his head. His headless body hung from a tree higher up on the mountain.

"Then where's Ashei?" Rusl asked himself. He scrutinized the mountainous skyline.

"I'm here Rusl." Her voice was right in his ear. He turned around and she was right behind him. She was covered in a golden liquid and held Eldin's head in her hand, Dimitri's holy blade in the other. "You knew I had it taken care of."

"Creina told me to come out here and help you." Rusl explained. He figured that the liquid was Eldin's blood. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Rusl. I might have needed help." Ashei turned and went into the manor with Rusl close behind.

Ashei had changed so much from the days of the Resistance. She seemed a few inches taller. Her hair was longer and she didn't pull it back anymore. She seemed much more beautiful and more mature. She wasn't as quick to anger anymore. Dimitri was lucky to have her. Or to have had her…

"Have I changed?" Ashei asked, seemingly aware of his every thought.

"Yes… you have." Rusl still walked behind her.

"So have you. You've gotten a lot more courageous." She smiled though he couldn't tell. "I know how you saved them."

"Oh. You were aware of that?" Rusl scratched his head.

"I was aware of everything while I was out." She pulled her bangs our of her face. "And the betrayals within betrayals."

"Yeah… I don't think I really know about any of that…" Rusl remembered that he hadn't really caught any of it, besides the fact everyone was in danger.

"Don't worry about it. We'll hear Ordona and Faron tell us. Lanaryu ran way once I woke up. He knew what would have happened." Ashei had the utmost confidence, and the power to back it up.

They came to the top of the stairs and came back to the room where Creina, Ganon, Zelda, and their captives waited. Ashei looked over at Faron and Ordona and held up Eldin's head. They let out exhausted breaths of acceptance.

"Go ahead and kill us then." Faron readied himself. Ordona did the same.

"First, I want some answers." Ashei threw Eldin's head to the floor and sheathed her sword.

"We have none for you." Ordona declared. "Do it."

"Where is Lanaryu?" Creina stepped forward.

"We don't know." Ordona snapped. They were getting irritated.

"Rusl. Take Ganon to another room and rewrap his bandages. Don't either of you come back until we tell you to." Zelda commanded. Rusl said nothing and did as he was told. "While you're in there Ganon, fill him in."

"Yes ma'am." Ganon was groggy and in immense pain. They left the room and left Ashei, Creina, and Zelda alone with the prisoners.

"Okay. Let me make something perfectly clear. I am pissed off and willing to kill you, but that's what I know you want. So I'm willing to extend your lives for intense torture." Zelda got in their faces. The two entities were still in their animal forms, trapped and helpless, but they didn't seem too intimidated.

"You know what?" Ashei looked at Creina and Zelda, then shifted her eyes toward Ordona. "Let's give them what they want. Creina, hold him down."

"You got it." Creina held Ordona's goat head. Ordona finally realized Ashei's intentions and began to struggle, but Creina was too strong.

"Good bye, friend." Ashei unsheathed her sword and in one fluid motion, she decapitated Ordona and let the golden blood spray onto Faron. "Your turn."

"No! Please!" Faron felt an unimaginable fear as Ashei raised her sword for another execution. Creina grabbed the monkey spirit and held him down like she did to Ordona. "I'll tell you!!"

"Start talking." Ashei stopped in mid-swing.

"Lanaryu will seek out the demon himself and join his cause. It's what we said we would or if anything went wrong." Faron sputtered. "We were going to control you and kill the demon when he was at his weakest after joining the three realms."

"Anything else you're forgetting?" Ashei asked, moving her sword up and down slightly.

"Tell us about the real Sacred Realm." Zelda stepped forward.

"I don't need to tell you that." Faron sounded increasingly anxious. "She knows, as does Ganon."

Faron pointed to Creina, who in turn looked to the floor.

"Well, do you know what that means Faron?" Ashei lowered her sword.

"What? I'm allowed to live?" Faron relaxed as Creina let off of him.

"That you're of no further use to me." Ashei struck like a lightning bolt and beheaded the third spirit. "That just leaves Lanaryu."

"Creina…" Zelda turned to her predecessor.

"It's hell." She said without being asked. "Those demons roaming these lands are spawned of that place. You all know the Sacred Realm of a beautiful, tranquil world with a prison for the worst of the Twilit Realm and Hyrule… But its all a prison. It's been that way ever since the demon was defeated thousands of years ago. I ordered my realm to house the demons that served in his armies as a prison and that criminals and threats to the balance of the other worlds be sent there throughout the years, hence Ganon."

"So you did this?" Zelda stretched out her wings.

"I contaminated the sacred realm…" Creina went to the broken window. "There was nothing else I could do with the monsters that were loyal to him."

"Well, they're still loyal to him and he's bringing them back into this world." Ashei's thoughts wandered to Dimitri. She missed him to the point of madness, but she had to be the spearhead of this offensive. She was the only one strong enough. "We have got to make the next move. If we don't Lanaryu will join the demon and we'll be doubly fucked."

"What do you suggest?" Zelda asked.

"No. What do you suggest?" Ashei turned the question back on the reigning deity of Hyrule. "You're the one who knows these things."

"Maybe we should ask Midna when she wakes up." Creina set the thought out in the open. "She's still asleep in the next room. Being possessed must take the all of your energy."

"Well, all I know is that Link is dead, and now Shad is dead. We killed three of Hyrule's four nature spirits. What the fuck has it come to?" Ashei sheathed her sword and sat on the floor against the wall. "I'm pretty sure we lost Ralis as well…"

"We needed as much help as we could get. Ralis was the closest thing to Dimitri in the way he thought and analyzed things so quickly." Zelda sat next to Ashei against the wall.

"Even though I have the triforce of wisdom, even I can't think and analyze like them." Ashei looked at the mark of the triforce on the back of her left hand. "Creina… What have you seen?"

Creina kept her back to them. She said nothing and her eyes trained on the blank, snow covered countryside. She had seen all of this. She knew exactly why and how Shad died. She knew that Ralis would have sacrificed himself to ensure Ganon found them in time. She knew that the things she saw were inevitable, but if she were to tell them and change the course of their fate, things would only be much worse.

"I haven't seen anything." She finally decided to let the future run its course unchanged. "I've tried to see what will happen, but it's all different from what has happened."

"You're lying." Rusl stood in the doorway.

"You were told—!" Creina turned around but Ashei held her hand up.

"How do you know she's lying?" Ashei looked at Rusl with studying eyes. He felt slightly unnerved, but he answered nonetheless.

"She told me the future." He was unable to relax. He stepped into the room and stood across from Zelda and Ashei.

"And what did she say?" Zelda studied him as well. Creina shifted nervously.

"She said that Shad would die once he had discovered what the prophesy really said, by some means or another." He tried to avoid Creina's eyes.

"What else?" Ashei remained sitting and kept her eyes on Rusl.

"That's it." Rusl finally looked at Creina, who gave him a look mixed with both contempt and gratitude that he hadn't said more. Zelda and Ashei looked at each other for a brief moment.

"Well, I guess it was to be expected. Lanaryu would have killed him any way things would have gone." Ashei stood up and walked from the room. Zelda stood up and followed her. Rusl and Creina were left alone, cold wind blowing in from the hole in the wall that was a window hours before.

"Thank you Rusl." Creina stepped closer to him. "They don't need to know that I have seen what will happen…"

"You said that telling the future changes it." Rusl ignored her words. "Why did Shad still die the way you said?"

"Because when someone is ordained to die, they are directed to the proper place, future predicted or not…" Creina looked to the floor, covered with golden blood.

"Then I will still die the way you said…" Rusl put his hands on her shoulders and she looked up at him.

"Yes…" She actually sounded and looked saddened.

"How?" Rusl was afraid to know, but he must so he would know what he had to do.

"I can't tell you that." She looked back behind his eyes, into his mind. She saw that he was determined and would die for his family. It was tragic that he would in fact lose his life for them. "Don't make me tell you…"  
"Tell me damn it!" Rusl shook her slightly. He had to know! "If I am going to die, tell me what I have to do!"  
"Stop it Rusl…" She cried, knowing that he would leave her no choice. She came to the decision to give him what he wanted. "Ashei and Zelda will tell you to return home before our next move, to take care of Ordon and your family and fellow villagers. They will not take no for an answer and say that you have too much to risk at home and you should be with them if anything was to go wrong in the battle with Dimitri."

"Then?" Rusl let a little pressure off of her.

"You will go back to Ordon, help to start rebuilding the village, for they are unaware what truly is happening in Hyrule, being so isolated. Two days after you've returned from here, demons will attack Ordon. The ones loyal to the demon." Creina loosed a tear from each eye. "You will fight several off, but you will not be able to fight all of them off… Dimitri will be there…"

"What are you saying?" Rusl raised her chin up when she looked down again. "You mean Dimitri is the one…"

She began to cry silently. She nodded and walked away from him. He stood, soaking in the realizations. He felt nauseous and he leaned against a table.

"I'm sorry." Creina walked out of the room. She was still crying.


	24. Part Twenty Three

"What do you suggest, Zelda?" Ashei lay down on a bed next to the one Midna was asleep on. Zelda sat at the foot of the bed where Ashei had found comfort.

"I think we should send Rusl home. He should go be with his family." Zelda responded and folded her wings behind her back. "I know he needs to take care of his wife Uli, Colin, his new son."

"I agree. We shouldn't drag him any further into this war." Ashei concurred. She looked over to Midna who was still asleep. "We'll tell him that he may go back to Ordon once we formulate our strategy."

"Dimitri would know what to do…" Zelda sighed.

"Well he's not a luxury that we have." Ashei reminded her. Ashei noticed the look in Zelda's eyes. The look of longing…

Ashei sat up and thought of the right words to say to her. Before words could come out, Creina walked into the room. She had been crying and looked at them, as if saying not to say anything. The words Ashei had been prepared to say slipped away from her. Instead, she thought about the bond that the three women had. They had all been Dimitri's lovers.

"Zelda… You still love him don't you?" Ashei felt a pain in her heart to think of her beloved and another woman, even if it was before her.

She said nothing. Creina watched them both, afraid to be dragged into this situation. She turned to leave but she stopped.

"And you…" Ashei said, Creina her target. "You do too…"

"This is a great time to be bringing all of this shit up!" Creina turned around to face Ashei and Zelda. "No I don't love him! I betrayed him!"

"And you've spent this whole time in your own little hell, wishing you hadn't." Ashei knew her too well. "You still harbor those feelings, even though you wish to maintain the image that you hate him."

"Shut up Ashei!!" Creina closed her eyes. She reopened them and found Ashei inches in front of her face. Ashei's eyes burned with love and devotion for Dimitri. Creina backed away slightly.

"You don't have to admit it." Ashei said flatly. "I can see if in both of you. The way your eyes flicker when Dimitri is mentioned."

"Ashei…" Zelda tried to say something but Ashei raised her hand.

"There is no need to apologize. He is the envy of any man. He is perfect, we all know that." She backed away from Creina. "But we must stop him, no matter what the personal pain to ourselves."

"I know…" Zelda retained a saddened look. "It's the only way to save the realms and countless lives."

"So where's the grandiose plan?" Creina scoffed, trying to avert Ashei's attention from Dimitri.

"Like I have to tell you." Ashei cast her a sidelong glance. "You've already seen it."

"Why do you accuse me of prescience?" Creina grew angry and afraid that her knowledge would come to hurt them.

"Because you've seen everything that will happen. You saw Shad die. You saw Rusl die. You've seen how you yourself die…" Ashei didn't stop in time to prevent herself from saying that last sentence.

Zelda and Creina gave her astonished and unbelieving looks. Ashei closed her eyes. She shouldn't have let that slip.

"So I'm not the only one…" Creina sat in a chair. "How did you see it?"

"Does it matter?" Ashei asked curtly. "I guess there's no point in trying to hide it. The only ones out of us who will survive this are Midna and Zelda…"

Creina had in fact seen it. She would die at the demon's hands as well, but how was still kept from her. She had also seen Ashei's death…

"Enough with this future prediction. It's bullshit!" Zelda stood, full of divine courage. "You keep saying that the future is already written! So what if something has happened that you've 'seen?' It's just coincidence. It's not so easy that you just see what will happen. There are other factors. Maybe we are writing the history you have seen with our actions because we've already taken them to be true. We will change this future you have seen."

"Easy for you to say." Creina rolled her eyes.

Zelda stood and slapped her as hard as she could. The hit knocked her to the floor. She looked up at her replacement as the Great Fairy with disbelief.

"Keep it up, and I won't stop there." Zelda stepped over her and left the room.

"Don't antagonize her, Creina." Ashei warned her. Creina picked herself up off the floor. "We need to talk, just the two of us."


	25. Part Twenty Four

Ganon's arm was still ablaze with pain from being clamped in Lanaryu's jaws. His head pounded and his vision was blurred. He lay in front of the fire in the living room, trying to regain his grip on reality.

He saw Zelda come down the stairs and sit on a well padded chair to the side of the fire.

"I didn't see any of this coming." Zelda put her face in her hands.

"Don't stress that, Zelda." Ganon tried to comfort her. His arm flared in agony again and his body spasmed for a second.

"I never would have believed the good that lie within you, Ganon." Zelda looked between her fingers. "You fought for us. You tried to warn us. You stood up for us."

"Don't tell anyone about that." Ganon couldn't help but smile and feel slightly proud of himself. "I do have an image to keep."

"I won't." Zelda returned his smile. She noticed how his face twisted with pain. "How is your arm?"

"Still hurts worse than hell." He shrugged. "I'm thinking about just holding my arm in the fire and letting it burn off."

"I wouldn't suggest that." Zelda found herself feeling like they had become friends, even through all that they had been through as enemies and as she had once been his captive. "I think you should rest instead of trying to talk."

"I think you're right." Ganon lay back on the floor in front of the fire. "Make sure Creina tells you everything… She's hiding things from us all…"

"I will. Just rest up." Zelda watched him close his eyes and drift into sleep. She let out an exhausted breath herself. Midna Ashei and Creina could take care of things while she took a nap herself, right? "I'll just rest my eyes."

The stress of the past couple days was bearing down on her like tons of steel and stone. Her mind felt like the now nonexistent Hyrule castle was on top of it. She soon took a page from Ganon and fell asleep.


	26. Part Twenty Five

"Wake up, my dear Requiem." Zelda heard a voice that she had longed to hear for years now call her the name she treasured most. Her eyes opened and she found herself in an almost alien setting. She was in what had been her chambers in the tallest tower of Hyrule Castle.

"I'm dreaming…" She realized. If that was the case, then… "Demi…"

"I'm here. You are indeed dreaming Zelda." Dimitri's powerful, muscular arms wound over her shoulders to embrace her. It felt so good to be in his arms again, even if it was just a dream. She remembered every detail and exactly how it felt. "I've come to warn you."

"Of what, my love?" Zelda leaned back against his chest, for she did not have the wings of the Great Fairy. She wanted to take full advantage of her surreality.

"Of what has happened to me. What has become of the man you have loved ever since you were the princess of this kingdom." He whispered in her ear. His arms around her remained in a tight embrace. "I have become the demon that generation upon generation has feared. I was able to seal myself into my mind, away from the demon, but even that was unsuccessful… I have been consumed by the demon, and all that remains of my former self is locked within the subconscious of you, Ashei, and the former Great Fairy."

"You mean that you will not come back to us?" Zelda felt heavy sadness welling up within her.

"I'm afraid not. I am dead, beloved. All that remains of me is the images of me from the time when we shared our lives. As is the case with Ashei and the Great Fairy." Dimitri explained. "They will only see me as the person I was when I was with them."

"Please Demi… You can't be dead." Zelda turned around in his arms and looked up at him. His face was just as it was years ago, kind with an underlying demeanor of discipline and strength. He was just as tall and his hair was the same length of when he was her knight. "You have to come back. For Ashei… and for me…"

"And I wish that I could. But it is finally my time. All this time, I have been chasing death, and now it has chased and caught me." Dimitri leaned down to her. She could feel his breath against her skin. "The time has come for me to leave this world permanently. You, Ashei, the one time Great Fairy, Midna, and Ganon must kill what I have become."

"I couldn't bring myself to do anything when I faced you last time, Demi." Zelda peered into his large, emerald eyes. She remembered when she had first met him; she had been mesmerized by these same eyes. "I just can't do it."

"Please Requiem." He commanded her attention when he used that name.

"I remember when you first called me that." She closed her eyes and reminisced of her fondest memories. "It was after you had made love to me the first time. It had been my first time and you had been gentle as I wished you to. You called me your little Requiem, your escape from the harsh reality in which we lived."

"I remember." Dimitri smiled peacefully. His smile faded slightly. "Please be my escape… Rid this world of the demon masquerading as me. Kill me Zelda. Please…"

"You're telling me to kill you, the only man I've truly unconditionally loved? The one who saved my life countless times? The one who taught me everything I know and the one who taught me what love was, who loved me for the person that I was, not just the princess of an eternal kingdom?" Zelda couldn't believe what he was asking her to do. "I can't Demi. I can't kill you."

"The Dimitri you love _is _dead." He pulled her chin up to where her eyes met his again. "Release me from the existence that fate has chosen for me. You are the only ones that can do it."

"Don't put that responsibility on me Dimitri." Zelda used his full name with a strong tone to her voice. He hesitated for a second before he said anything.

"Zelda… Please." He pulled her closer. She rested her head against his broad chest and he put his chin on the crown of her head. "The realms will be joined soon. I'm afraid that the only one with the power to prevent this from happening is Ashei."

"I kind of figured that." Zelda felt his warmth. He wore no shirt, just his cloak that left his back covered but chest bare. "Even though Link gave his life and the triforce for me, it was wasted."

"That's not true." Dimitri stroked the back of her neck. "Link would have died either way…"

"What do you mean?" Zelda lifted her head from his chest.

"The demon would have killed him first…" Dimitri showed emotional duress on his face. "I'm afraid that the demon will hunt down it's biggest threats first. Ralis is already dead, and Link would have been next."

"What of Ganon and Creina?" Zelda asked.

"They are irrelevant now. Their powers as guardians of their respective realms have passed on, as have Ralis'." Dimitri explained.

"To who?" She was beginning to wonder when this dream would end, hoping that it would not be for a long time.

"Ganon's power has transferred to Midna. That's why she wields his sword so easily. Ralis' has gone to Ashei, as you've noticed that as strong as she was before, she's more so by at least ten times." Dimitri let go of her and moved to the window. The sun was bright and the plains in the distance were fully lit.

"And Creina's?" Zelda followed him and stood beside him in front of the window.

"They've passed on to you, Requiem." Dimitri did not take his eyes from the horizon. "You may not have to the power to stop the joining of the realms, but you do have what is needed to combat the demon as long as you are united with Ashei and Midna."

"I told you Demi—!" She tried to protest, but Dimitri grabbed her and kissed her. She forgot about what she was going to say and wrapped her arms around him. The way he tasted was the same, the same taste she remembered from when they had shared their first kiss in a corridor in the palace, away from prying eyes.

Their intensely passionate kiss left her stunned when it was over. She had longed for it so long. She longed for him.

"I'm sorry Requiem, but your dreams are the only place that I will be for you. You must complete the task set out for you. Take the reins of destiny and steer Hyrule back to the path of peace." Dimitri let go of her and the room seemed to fade away, leaving just the two of them. He made no footsteps, but he started to drift away from her. "Do it Zelda! Kill the demon that plagues this land! Free me from this hell!!

"Demi…" Zelda's voice was caught in her throat, preventing her from screaming for him to come back. He drifted into the darkness and couldn't be seen or heard. "No…"

The darkness blacked out her vision and she knew that her dreaming was over.


	27. Part Twenty Six

The demon had finally consumed his host, taking on his complete identity to do with as he pleased. But there was a problem with this. He had absorbed the righteous and just thoughts that now roamed his mind, preventing him from completely ignoring inhibitions.

_**Perhaps I should have just put up with the mental nagging instead of this. **_He found himself valuing the creatures around him as individuals instead of the useless puppets these demons truly were. He was standing on the bridge of Eldin, the great monument to the once Queen of Hyrule, Zelda. Dimitri had destroyed the bridge once before combating hundreds of Twili messengers. It had been rebuilt and dedicated to Zelda.

He found the work quite well done and admired how far this world had come since he had last reigned over it. It would be a shame to destroy everything here, but what must be done must be done.

"Here you are, out in the open, completely defenseless." He heard a hiss behind him. Dimitri turned to face this stealthy threat.

"**If you knew what I was capable of, you wouldn't even be standing there.**" The demon snarled. When he saw who had spoken, he was genuinely surprised. It was one of the guardian spirits of Hyrule, the one who figured to be Lanaryu by it's snake shape. "**And what brings you here, Lanaryu?**"

"So you do know who I am? What a relief. I didn't want to explain it to you." Lanaryu carried an edge to his voice that indicated that he believed he was on the same level as Dimitri. That needed to be righted soon. "I came to join forces with you. Put our powers together, and what is there to stop us?"

"**Where are the other three spirits?**" Dimitri questioned, causing Lanaryu some uneasiness.

"They are securing our interests elsewhere." Lanaryu still carried the same tone.

"**They are dead.**" Dimitri knew what had happened. The beautiful Ashei had disposed of them. His memories from his host recalled how she tasted, how she felt, the precious memories that one would take to the grave, never wanting to share. And that's what happened. He took them to the grave, but it was in the demon's mind where he lay entombed. **"Cut the small talk, 'guardian,' and tell me what your true objective is. And stop acting like you are even comparable to me. Do not simply tell me you desire to join forces with me. I already know your intentions, so let me here them from your mouth without any further deceit."**

Lanaryu sized up this hellish being. If he played the wrong card, then he would be annihilated faster than the others had been cut down by Ashei. What use would that be? But he wondered if the demon truly knew the extent of his plan. Would he really know what lurked in his mind? There was only one way that he would be able to know…

**"I'm not one you want to question." **Dimitri pulled his lavishly long silver hair out of his devilish face. He had to instill the feeling into Lanaryu that he really did know what Lanaryu had planned. Anything he could think of, he couldn't necessarily prove. He could only see certain things of the past and future, and this wasn't one of them. **"Think carefully."**

Lanaryu stared straight into the eyes of the demon. Fear was slowly being instilled into him, but he must advance with his plans. He would be dead already if Dimitri knew his intent. He would ride that hope to the end.

"I wanted to stay close to you and ride your ascent to power, hopefully to gain power along with you. Maybe become a general for you, rewarded with a high position of power in the tri-realm once it's been unified again." Lanaryu exuded an air of perfect honesty while concealing everything at the same time.

"**Do not play mind games with me, little snake." **Dimitri tried to squeeze out more.

"But that is the truth, you blood thirsty demon!" Lanaryu feigned anger. Why would he say such things if he knew his true motives? He was obviously bluffing that he knew. "Either accept my help or kill me now. For if you turn me away, I will find the means for revenge."

"**Bold words. I severely doubt you could back up them up." ** Dimitri couldn't help but feel that it was not the truth, but he wouldn't be able to learn any more from this adversary. He remembered clearly how he had been so close to ending Lanaryu's life so many years ago. "**I remember our battle long ago. You told you fellow generals, Faron, Ordona, and Eldin to leave me to you. You told them that no demon could slay the warrior of Hylia, Lanaryu."**

"I remember as well. And if you'll remember, I was right." Lanaryu slithered closer until he was in the middle of the bridge, feet from Dimitri. "I'm still alive."

"**Only because **_**she **_**showed up." **Dimitri recalled how the Great Fairy had interrupted the battle right before he gave Lanaryu the finishing blow. How good it would be to get his revenge on him now. **"Are you suggesting we should finish this ancient feud?"**

"I said nothing of the kind, Demon." Lanaryu gave a submissive bow, but added the last word out of quiet rage. Dimitri ignored him and drew his Claymore, the same that he had wielded in his travels as the mortal he once was. Lanaryu grew nervous and his golden body prickled with anxiety. "What do you intend to do?"

**"Do you swear your undying allegiance to me, Lanaryu?" **Dimitri bellowed, loud enough for all of Hyrule to feel the bass in his voice quake the earth beneath their feet.

"I do, my lord." Lanaryu smiled internally. Things would work out after all.

**"Then I declare you my eternal general and servant. My orders for this world shall be relayed to you and spread amongst our legions of warriors. You are my personal council and confidant." **Dimitri declared, then struck straight down onto the back of Lanaryu's snake head with his Claymore. Lanaryu's body slumped to the stone of the bridge and lost its golden luster. **"May this rebirth signal the dawn of a new existence for you. I bestow upon you the powers of demon generation, teleportation, and the ever so concise super human abilities such as strength and speed."**

Lanaryu's divine snake form disappeared and a shadow appeared on the ground, expanding on the stone.

**"I give you back your old body, the one you fought against me with, along with the aforementioned powers to serve as my right hand man. But be warned Lanaryu, you will lose all powers and revert to a mortal if you dare cross me." **Dimitri watched a figure rise from the shadow.

It was a man only inches shorter than Dimitri, who was almost seven feet tall. He had shoulder length flaming red hair and a scar over the bridge of his nose. He appeared in his late twenties, but was much older mentally. He was very physically toned, comparable to Dimitri himself back when he was a human. His body rippled with muscles honed by years and years of constant combat. He had a long red scar going from the top of his shoulder to his left thigh, a wound attained from his fight with the demon. He had a chain around his neck made of black steel, symbolic of Dimitri's control.

"**How does it feel, general?**" Dimitri smiled at his craftsmanship. Lanaryu returned the smile.

"It feels magnificent. Thank you my lord." Lanaryu was greatly pleased with the gift he had been given. It was a shame what he was going to do to Dimitri in due time. He had been so generous.

"**Now. I expect nothing short of complete loyalty. There will be no hesitation, no insubordination.**" Dimitri put his claw on Lanaryu's powerful shoulder.

"Of course my lord. What is your first command?" Lanaryu brimmed with anticipation. Dimitri did not want to waste his new minion's zeal.

"**We are going to Ordona. We will burn it to the ground, then move on to the next place. Bring the demons with us. Once we have finished all of the towns, we will go to the long abandoned sky city of the Oocca. There we will set ourselves in place to join the realms in the skies over Hyrule." **Dimitri laid out his plan. Lanaryu checked his belt and ensured that his twin katana were secured to his waist.

"As you wish." Lanaryu bowed to the demon.

**"Good. Now let us be on our way."** Dimitri smiled with a smile, bearing his fangs.


	28. Part Twenty Seven

Rusl had only been home in Ordon an hour when he began to feel like he had left his comrades to fight alone. Ashei and Creina had ordered him to return home and wouldn't let him remain with them. They wouldn't take no for an answer. Ashei had almost resorted to violence to get him to leave, but he saw that her eyes tried to push back tears.

"Dear?" His wife Uli stood almost immediately in front of him while he had been gazing off into the distance in the way of Hyrule. "What's troubling you dear? Your eyes exhibit feelings of worry and regret."

"It's nothing, honey." Rusl reminded himself that this was what was truly important, defending his wife and children. He must be here to protect them. He must change the future, he must find a way. He used his quick mind to think of an excuse for such expressions. "I just wish I had been more help to Shad, Ashei, and Midna. They took care of it all without my help."

"I'm sorry. At least your home now dear. That's what matters to me." Uli embraced her husband. "Colin has found himself a girl he wants to make his wife someday."

"That's great. I'm proud of him." Rusl tried to clear his mind of the things that haunted him constantly. He contemplated telling his most treasured companion, but he couldn't. He was warned not to by Creina, one who had not been wrong yet. "Let us turn in for the evening. We shall be busy tomorrow."

"Yes dear." Uli walked arm in arm with her husband to their quaint home.

The night went peacefully, spending his time with Uli, Colin, and his second son he had named Link, in honor of the now deceased hero and friend.

As Rusl lay in bed with his slumbering wife in his arms, his mind wandered. He couldn't sleep. He couldn't focus on anything else. He knew that what had been predicted was inevitable, but maybe he could change the outcome. He had to do it!

The hours went by and Rusl began to see the sun begin to peek over the forest. His mind raced with preparations to be made for the conflict to come. He felt darkness approaching with the sunlight crawling across the land. His body didn't seem to notice the fatigue from events the days before. Adrenaline was already pumping throughout his body, remembering how he had saved everyone from the spirits in the Peak Manor.

Uli stirred slightly and her eyes opened. She rolled over in his arms and looked into his contemplative eyes.

"What is it Rusl? I haven't seen your eyes like that since you were part of the old Resistance." She had genuine concern in her voice. She feared a return to those days, never knowing how her husband was until he trudged home from some bloody battle with Ashei and the others months after he had left. He usually came home with even more new scars than when he had left. "There is something you're not telling me."

"Dearest… There are things you couldn't even begin to imagine coming for us…" Rusl couldn't keep it anymore. Her face twisted in confusion, but then in acceptance, seeing his stern expression. "The village will be overrun by demons sometime today… I can't explain how I know, but it's true. I can feel it in my soul. And I'm afraid one of our dear friends is the one responsible…"

"Which one?" Uli tightened her arms around her man.

"The one who has saved us twice before…" His gaze went back to the now half raised sun. It had an ominous dark spot in the center.

"…Dimitri?" Uli knew of his great heroism and deeds of legendary proportions from all the stories Rusl and his companions had told around the table night after night. "But why?"

"He has a demon dwelling within him, one that ruled over everything 5,000 years ago. It has awakened within him and I'm afraid there isn't anything we can do…" Rusl watched the dark spot slowly grow larger. "Ashei, Midna, and Zelda are going to try and stop him, but I'm afraid they won't be able to delay the destruction of Ordon. That is why I have come back to defend you and our sons."

"…Rusl…" Uli's tears could be felt on his bare chest. He knew there would be more tears at the end of this day, but who would be shedding them… he didn't know.

"I love you so much Uli and you are the greatest woman anyone could have asked for. You've made me beyond happy and my heart has been forever yours." Rusl kissed her neck and then her lips. "My life has been dedicated to you for these 19 years. Gods above give me the strength to make it to twenty."


	29. Part Twenty Eight

"Do you think it was a mistake to send Rusl home?" Zelda stood beside Ashei as she looked out into a new blizzard that kept them at bay in the manor. They had planned to leave for Hyrule today, but the weather had intensified. Rusl had left in the early morning the day before. But something else was strange. "And do you think we should be worried about Ganon's disappearance?"

"I don't think it was a mistake for Rusl, but Ganon's absence bothers me. Creina has searched the estate several times over looking for him. I have reason to believe that he left yesterday, possibly around the same time as Rusl." Ashei wasn't too concerned herself. She still had the repressed memories of what he had done to her… Dimitri had always been there to keep those things from her mind, to heal her wounds…

"Still nothing." Creina came back into the large room. She had a look of puzzlement on her elegant face. "What do you think it means?"

"I don't know. And personally… If we didn't need as much help as we can get, I would have killed him myself." Ashei let the disgust and hatred bleed through her normally icy façade. Only Dimitri knew how hot blooded she truly was.

She remembered what had captured her heart about him. She remembered when she had threatened to kill him when they first met, and how he had easily overpowered her… and all of the other people in the room without any effort. He didn't care about his previous lovers, but he was truly her man.

She had a dream the night before, one of Dimitri, promising to always live in her heart and dreams, just as she last remembered him. Kind, loving, warm to her body, more of a soul mate then she could have ever dreamed. He told her before kissing her deeply and ending her dream, that he was now dead and nothing could change that. She had to free his body from this torrential destiny of madness and demonic descent.

She had cried when he spoke these words. She screamed at him, the only woman that had ever dared to raise her voice to him. But this was because of how much she really loved him. She loved him to the point that she did not stop herself. She had beaten his scarred chest with her fists, letting him know her feelings.

He had simply smiled and pulled her closer. She stopped lashing out and leaned against her. Her eyes still shimmered from the tears that clouded her vision. He begged her to end his misery that he had to endure watching his demon tirade around and kill more and more innocent people under his name. She had finally said that she would. He smiled again and then told her that he lay within Zelda's and Creina's dreams as well. She was jealous, but she realized that this was something that united the three of them.

They were the new guardians of the realms, and they had to stand together in order to slay the demon. Their visions of Dimitri and their love for him would steady their minds, preparing them for what they had to do. They had to free him from the endless torture and clear his tarnished name. Whether or not they survived did not matter. The preservation of this kingdom was all that did matter.

"Ashei?" Zelda interrupted Ashei's myriad thoughts and snapped her back to reality. She had been lost in thought for only a few seconds but Creina and Zelda knew that she was in the middle of deep thought. She looked at the two previous lovers of Dimitri. Zelda looked concerned while Creina seemed lost in thought now. "Are you okay, Ashei?"

"I'm fine. Just thinking." She shook her head slightly to clear her mind. "Am I the only one that can navigate in a blizzard?"

"I'm afraid so." Creina didn't look up. Her eyes seemed focused on something that wasn't there.

"Okay. Well then I'm afraid that we're going to have to split up…" Ashei put the golden bladed sword Dimitri had slain Ralis with years ago, still dripping with divine blood, on her back and put her smaller personal sword on her hip.

"Why?" Zelda asked as Creina's head snapped up.

"Because I sense Dimitri… or rather two of him…" Ashei shrugged. "I also sense a much more powerful Lanaryu alongside one of the Dimitri presences."

"Where are they?" Creina left behind her private thoughts.

"Well, one Dimitri and Lanaryu are in the Faron Province moving toward Ordon. The other is in the graveyard outside of Kakariko…" Ashei turned from the two and started toward the door.

"So where are you going to go first?" Zelda moved in front of her.

"I'm going to Ordon. When the blizzard clears up, I want you to go to the graveyard. After things are sorted out in Ordon, I'll come to the graveyard." Ashei gently moved Zelda aside. Then Creina stepped in front of her. "What?"

"You know what Dimitri said…" She spoke of the dreams they all had. Ashei's posture slumped only slightly. "He said we must stand united to defeat the demon, otherwise we have no hope. Midna must wake up soon, and when she does—,"

"We must combat the demon together." Midna said from behind them in the doorway.

"You're finally awake." Creina smiled a little. "See? You can't just go off crusading on your own. We need you and you need us."

"Fine. Then you go to the graveyard while we go to Ordon." Ashei looked at Creina. Her eyebrow cocked in surprise. "We've been here too long and I'm tired of feeling cooped up and useless."

"Sounds okay to me." Midna was full rested and had the sacred blue sword once used to seal Ganon in the Sacred Realm on her back. She had dressed warm with lots of fur from Ashei and Dimitri's closets. "When do we leave?"

"In a few minutes. Dress warmly Zelda." Ashei looked at her quickly. "There's plenty of clothes around here. Creina, you may leave whenever you like, just don't take too much time."

Zelda nodded and went into the next room and Creina sat down, back in more thoughts. Ashei walked to Midna who was leaning against the door leading into the blizzard.

"How long have you been awake?" Ashei smiled at her good friend.

"About an hour. I noticed Ganon was missing, Rusl was gone, and overheard everything you were talking about in here." Midna returned the smile. "This blizzard is pretty bad. Are you sure that we must leave now?"

"I am. We've been here too long as it is." Ashei nodded and her smile diminished. "What does it mean? Two of him…"

"We'll find out, but we must go to Ordon's aid. Rusl is in danger." Midna set their objective.


	30. Part Twenty Nine

His existence was one of mystery. He did not know where he came from or where he was going. He awakened in a graveyard, lying in the middle of a ring of graves. He wondered why he had not simply been buried because he felt as if he were dead. He had been in the graveyard for what felt like eternity, but he knew it was only a day or so.

His body was heavily scarred and he had a weird triangular image etched directly into his skin on his left hand and on his chest over his heart. He thought they seemed peculiar but he knew they were related to who he really was. He brushed his long silver hair out of his eyes and looked up into the night sky.

He felt as if the darkness was unnatural and that he should take action, but nothing came to mind. He cursed himself because he couldn't remember anything. He finally willed himself to stand up. He was easily taller than six and a half feet and was very physically fit.

_I must have been a warrior. That would explain why I am so scarred. _He thought to himself. He couldn't even remember his own name. He grew more and more frustrated. _What am I doing here? Someone please tell me…_

He pushed his sluggish body around the graveyard. He read the writing on them, but he knew they were ancient symbols. He shouldn't have been able to read them so clearly. These graves all contained kings and knights of old. He found a rather large one at the end of a row of knights' headstones.

He saw that it was written in normal Hylian, a much newer grave than the others. Only the bravest and greatest of knights were buried here. He saw that the soil had a different color than the other graves. He deduced the difference being that non one was actually buried here. He did not have to bend down to read it, for it was as tall as he was.

"What does it say? 'Here lies the greatest knight that has ever served the royal family and Hyrule, sacrificing any and everything necessary for the ones he protected. He was never found after falling over the falls at Lake Hylia. Princess Zelda's head knight and personal bodyguard, Dimitri the Just.' What the hell?" He voiced the name over and over in his mind. "That sounds so familiar."

He walked away from the grave and unconsciously began walking in circles around the graveyard. Everything about that had seemed so familiar. He couldn't shake the feeling that this information was linked to him somehow.

"Was that my grave?" He stopped in mid-step.


	31. Part Thirty

"We're never going to make it at this rate." Ashei was a quite a ways ahead of her companions. Midna was about twenty yards behind her and Zelda was about twenty behind Midna. She was going slowly enough through the blizzard that they could keep up with her. Her experience in these conditions made her capable of traveling with no difficulty. She felt the presence of Dimitri and Lanaryu reach Ordon and they weren't even out of the mountains yet.

"We need to regroup on this!" Midna yelled over the wind blowing snow into their faces. Zelda still lagged behind. She knew that Ashei was the only one who could effectively do this. She could sense Ashei's mind in turmoil and silent frustration.

Midna became lost in thought as she pushed herself backward through the snow to where Zelda was struggling. Without either of them saying a word, Midna put Zelda on her back and went forward again. Zelda opened her wings and wrapped them around the two of them just enough to increase visibility and cut the wind off of them.

"Thank you Midna." Zelda felt guilty for slowing them down and having to be carried.

"Don't worry about it." Midna said over the wind against Zelda's wings. They could see Ashei up ahead, barely visible but coming back into focus. "We need to catch up with her before she leaves us behind."

"Okay." Zelda clung to her friend for warmth. Midna caught them up to Ashei after about an hour of hard work.

"About time." Ashei said jokingly, trying to lighten their moods. The weather wasn't letting up at all once they had reached the cave system that led to the Zora Reservoir. They ducked into the cavern and took a break. "I'm afraid that we're too late. Dimitri and Lanaryu have already made it to Ordon…"

"There isn't anything we can do?" Zelda asked as she dismounted from Midna's back. Ashei shook her head.

"Damn it." Midna sighed. "So what about Rusl?"

"Hopefully he's able to save his family and run… There's not really anything else he can do." Ashei leaned against the rocky wall. "I'm afraid by the time we get there, the place will be burned to the ground."

"So what's the point in still going?" Zelda couldn't help but feel like they caused this to happen to Rusl. They should have gone with him or something.

"So we can pick up the pieces… Hopefully catch someone off guard." Ashei had a grimace on her face. They had already resigned themselves to the fact that Rusl was going to die.


	32. Part Thirty One

Ordon was completely unaware of the impending crisis about to lay siege to its people. Rusl knew warning them would make no difference but to confuse them before the chaos set in. The dark spot in the sun was more than half of the now fully risen star.

Rusl stood on his back porch and sharpened his sword and readied his shield as Colin fortified the basement of their home and Uli tended to their youngest son.

"When it begins, I want you to take your mother into the basement and never open that barricaded door. The only time you come out is a day or so after all the commotion ceases. Don't let anything fool you into opening the door. Don't let screaming, beating, banging, or even myself to believe it is safe." Rusl used a wet stone to return the edge of his sword to a razors edge as he directed his eldest son Colin. "When… or if… it ever becomes safe, I'll use the words 'the night will not fall on Ordon tonight' and all will be well. If not, you stay in there."

"But father…" Colin tried to object.

"I will not hear it. You will do as I, as your father, have told you." Rusl's voice was like tempered steel.

"Yes father…" He hung his head in acceptance. Rusl noticed and stood from his bench. He put his arms around his son in a manly embrace. "You are a man that any father would be proud of Colin. You honor me with the obedience a father desires above all else."

"Thanks father." Colin smiled at his dad. Colin went inside to see his mother and Rusl sheathed his sword on his back. He decided to take a good last stroll through his home village. He looked up and the dark spot had almost consumed the sun.

"I guess I better make it quick then." Rusl tried to push it from his mind. He walked through the village, in between houses, over the bridge that spanned their creek. He stopped at the apex of the bridge and looked upstream. The massive monolithic headstone of Ralis' mother remained wedged in the dam, preventing massive flooding. "Maybe…"

He looked back to his home, noticing it was up off of the flood plain. The rest of the village lay in harm's way if something were to happen… but if he had to, he would resort to it…

The dark spot finally blotted out the sun, turning the sky above to an opaque gray. Red and black arches of lighting began to skitter across the thickening clouds. The townspeople began running to their homes.

"Colin!!" Rusl bellowed from the bridge toward his home. Colin came out into their yard, looking up at the sky, then to his father. Uli stood in the doorway with the infant in one arm and her hand over her mouth in fear. "Go! Seal it up!!"

"Come with us father!" Colin said as claps of thunder began to deafen them. "Please!"

"Damn it son! Go!! I will not tell you again!" Rusl feared for his family long before he even began to think of himself. He remained on the bridge but drew his sword. He looked at his wife and son. "Just remember! I love both of you more than anyone could begin to imagine! I will protect all of you!! NOW GO!!"

Colin nodded to himself and took his mother inside as Rusl had ordered. Rusl knew Colin would do right.

Rusl held his sword in his right hand and held his shield up with his right. The lightning grew closer in its attacks on the ground and the thunder got louder. He feared that this onslaught of unnatural darkness would slay him before he had the chance to fight any demons.

"Come out and face me, a true warrior among men! I do not fear death at any hand, but I will bring that hand's death along with mine!!" Rusl felt tears run down his face. They were not of fear, but of the thought that he knew his martyrdom was futile. He knew now what he wielded against this overwhelming darkness. "Helplessness…"

The demons emerged from the lightning strikes, the woods around the village, the sky itself, the air around him. They came at him without warning.

"Gods above!!" Rusl swung at the coming torrents of demons.


	33. Part Thirty Two

"Dimitri will be rather pleased." Lanaryu stood far above the village, watching the houses being raided and the townspeople being dragged out, powerless. He laughed as they were slaughtered one by one, no opposition at all. "This is too easy."

Something caught his eye, a flash of steel cutting into devil hide. Black blood sputtering into the air like a geyser. He saw a certain blonde haired man cutting down his minions like it were nothing. The only thing keeping him at bay was the sheer number of these creatures.

"Rusl… You son of a bitch." Lanaryu exhaled, recalling how he had ruined his original plan to possess Ashei. How sweet the revenge would be. Perhaps he could capture him and then torture his most treasured family in front of him? "Splendid idea."

He sent his orders to the demons telepathically, ordering them to form a perimeter around Rusl. They immediately halted their attacks. Rusl stood, panting and looking at them, surprised. Many of them fell back and went toward his home.

Lanaryu could read the horror in his expression all the way from where he was hovering. His sick sense of humor was being piqued. His smile grew wider as the demons tore into the house, through the door, though the wall and roof.

Rusl charged the suddenly non aggressive demons gathered in front of him. They made no effort to fight back but remained standing in his way. When he cut one down, it would be replaced by several more. He staggered backward as exhaustion began to set in.

"You have exceeded my expectations Rusl." Lanaryu spoke to himself. "You've slain over three hundred of my demons in about an hour. Very well done."

The thoughts of his demons merged with his own and stopped his current train of thought. Rusl's family was no where to be found. That was impossible. He sensed them in there, but they could not be found? Perhaps he needed to dirty his own hands then…

He lowered himself down to the ground. The demons fell in line behind him as he passed them. This was the power Lanaryu had dreamed of for millennium upon millennium, but there was more to come once he deposed Dimitri. This would have to do for now.

Lanaryu strode triumphantly to where Rusl now sat, completely spent on the hard earth covered in spilt blood.

"Who the hell are you?" Rusl blinked blood and sweat from his eyes. His blonde hair was matted with black liquid loosed from his prey's throats, skulls, and other body parts.

"That's right. You don't know me in this form. Perhaps this will help you." Lanaryu's eyes changed to those of an angered snake, red and slit. When realization stamped Rusl's face, he changed them back.

"Lanaryu…" Rusl tried to rise to his feet, sword in hand. Lanaryu took full advantage of his fatigue and effortlessly kicked Rusl's sword away and pushed back to the ground. His breath strained and his muscles throbbed. "You bastard…"

"I may be, but I'm still the one in control here. I hold you and your family's lives in my hand. The merciful Dimitri has granted me the honor of squashing your village myself." Lanaryu preached to his depleted opponent. "But I find it more satisfying to torture my victims before they die. That is why I seek your family so that I may submit you to watching them beg for mercy. And by mercy, I mean a quick death."

"That will not happen." Rusl remained defiant. "You have not dealt with me yet. You will never get to them with me still alive. Even in death, they will be out of your reach."

"Oh please. Spare me your pitiful words. It will happen, you will watch, and you will all die." Lanaryu smiled with a cruel grin.

"There's one thing you spirits have always believed." A deep bass of a voice was heard right behind Lanaryu. Lanaryu felt a powerful hand land on his shoulder. The hand spun around the general and when who assailed him became clear, his face twisted in disbelief. "You always believed yourselves to be ten foot tall and invincible."

A heavy, full force punch came from a large fist directly into Lanaryu's already scarred face. It sent him flying into the burning wreckage of a house many yards away. The fist had glowed with Twili power.

"Ganon…" Rusl let out a breath of relief at the appearance of an unlikely ally, the former Twili usurper Ganon. Ganon smiled and flexed his chiseled arms. One of his arms still bore bandages and suggested he was not fully healed.

"I couldn't let you come here and die a martyr alone." Ganon finally sounded like one of the good guys. The demons sidled away from him as he pushed closer to Rusl. "You've done a hell of a job, Rusl."

"Thanks, but I'm afraid this is as far as I go." Rusl admitted belatedly. Ganon pulled him to his feet and helped him gain his balance. He looked to his house which was in shambles, but knew that Colin, Uli, and his infant son remained safe below. The demons had stopped their pillaging and simply waited around the two of them. He couldn't believe what had just happened. "You seriously followed me all the way here with the intent of helping me?"

"Hell yeah." Ganon smiled and they hit the backs of their fists together in the symbol of camaraderie. "Couldn't miss out on this ass kicking and getting back at Lanaryu. Plus, maybe get me out of a few years of torture, fire and brimstone, that sort of thing."

"Well, you've earned more than that my friend." Rusl found enough energy to return the smile. His eyes moved to Ganon's arm, bandages having dried blood on them. "I'm guessing you haven't recovered from your last encounter with him?"

"I'll be fine once my adrenaline gets pumping again. I kinda always wanted to deliver a line like that and then punch some guy." Ganon acted like a giddy young man, a being Rusl had been convinced that he had never been before in his dark lifetime.

Their banter died down when they saw the flaming house Lanaryu had been thrown into began to move. They watched as Lanaryu emerged from the flames, almost unscathed except for a bleeding nose and clearly broken jaw. Ganon was slightly pleased with his handiwork. His expression changed to one of disappointment when the bleeding stopped and Lanaryu placed his hands to his disfigured jaw.

"Son of a…" Ganon's mouth hung slightly open as he watched Lanaryu reset his jaw forcefully and heal it completely. Lanaryu smiled once his healing finished.

"That was a great hit, Ganon. I'm surprised at your strength now that you have lost your role as the Twilit Realm's guardian. It is a shame that you had to change your ways and go to the side of your so called 'justice' and 'righteousness.' I often find them synonymous with 'destruction' and 'chaos,' don't you think so?" Lanaryu brushed soot from himself. "Let me show you why Dimitri has graced me with this position."

Lanaryu flashed from view and reappeared right in front of them. They didn't have time to react as Lanaryu punched them both with his fists in their chest as fast as he had moved. The impact broke ribs in both of them and in the split second before they were sent flying, Rusl and Ganon let blood seep from their mouths.

Rusl was sent into the water over the bridge and Ganon slammed into the side of the bridge. They both ended up in the water, blood spilling into the once clear waters. Their bodies were easily broken and Lanaryu realized just what strength he wielded.

"Is… That all… You got?" Ganon's deep voice rasped between coughs loosing more crimson into the water. Lanaryu admired his will to keep trying, but it was useless. "Bring it… You aren't… shit…"

"Ganon… Stop…" Rusl pulled himself through the water toward his comrade. Ganon moved painfully in Lanaryu's direction, intending to either fight back or die trying. Rusl tried to stop him, but the agony kept him from saying more.

"Ganon. I respect your perseverance and willingness to keep fighting, even when you know there is no point, but you must stop." Lanaryu hated to see such a waste of ability.

"And I respect your continuing to think I give a shit!" Ganon spat more crimson. "You are foolish. You're the one who should rethink what they're doing."

Ganon's remaining energy was being sapped by blood loss. He couldn't speak much longer so he would have to get what he needed to say in.

"Dimitri knows you will turn on him. That's why he makes you wear that chain. You are dead as soon as he thinks you have outlived your usefulness." Ganon pushed himself up to his knees, and then struggled to his feet. He stood face to face with the smug Lanaryu. "You will fail. Period."

"No! You fail!" Lanaryu shoved his hand into Ganon's chest. A gruesome death for a once gruesome ruler would be appropriate. Ganon's eyes went wide then rolled into the back of his head.

"Ganon!" Rusl cried, watching Lanaryu rip Ganon's spine out of his body and throwing it to the ground. Ganon's lifeless body crumpled to the ground. Rusl cried for his fallen ally. Blood and tears mixed on his face and in the stream. "Damn it…"

Rusl had to think of something fast. He had no other options. He turned his neck, ignoring the aching of his shattered body. He saw that his house still stood above the flood plain the village lay in. He would flood the village, taking as many with him as he could. But how would he do it?

"I'm sorry Rusl. Hopefully you'll be smarter than he was." Lanaryu turned his attention to the beaten, blonde headed man. His arm was still covered in blood and he thought nothing of it. "Will you accept your death calmly and the way one should if they know it's inevitable?"

"I will." Rusl would accept it, but in a different way. "But I have a purpose in my death."

"Oh. A martyr, eh?" Lanaryu smugly turned from Rusl, giving him the opening he needed. He used the deepest reserves of his strength to get up and run to the dam upstream. He brought his sword with him to act as a lever to dislodge the headstone patching the structure. Lanaryu heard his quick footfalls and turned around. "What are you doing now Rusl?"

He did not answer and picked up his pace as fast as he could manage. He dragged himself up the side of the dam. He wedged his sword into the almost invisible crack between wood and stone. His gasping muscles screamed for him to stop. He could feel the tendons and ligaments snapping completely off inside his body.

"Please holy ones… Help me this one time." Rusl pleaded, feeling even blood vessels pop. His field of vision began to take on a red hue, the veins in his eyes still popping. He did not pay attention to the demons rushing toward the dam, in fact, he was hoping they were. He finally felt the stone begin to creak out of its resting place.

The water could be felt gathering potential energy, becoming faster as more was allowed through the growing space. With one more great heave, the monolith had been wrested free and water was let loose in a deluge through the burning remains of the village. The sudden flow carried the dam with Rusl still on it down the plain.

The demons all howled in fear and ran back toward Lanaryu who stood in disbelief as the tidal wave grew closer at a deathly speed. Rusl watched as he disappeared under the crest of the wave and carried him and the dam away. He watched his house grow smaller, and safer, in the distance behind him. He let out a sigh of relief and fell to his back on the floating wood.

"Thank you holy ones." Rusl's body was finished. His death would come soon, if not immediately. "Uli… Colin… I love you so much…"

His last thoughts were on the topic of how he was supposed to have met his end at the hands of Dimitri, but he could feel Creina's voice in the back of his head. He remembered what she had said, that voicing the future changes it, but when it is a man's time to die, they will be directed to the proper place. A weak, self accomplished smile slowly crept onto his face.

Rusl died on the dam turned driftwood. The water carried him until it could not anymore. The water started to slow down as the land leveled off at the foot of mountains. Wreckage of his home village washed up around his resting place.

Ganon's body floated down on a piece of wooden roof, cleaned by the water, tranquil as he had finally died for the last time. Bodies of demons arrived at a stop along with the bodies of the luckless villagers. There had to be thousands of them, their carcasses strewn everywhere as they had drowned under the ceasing wave.

One body in particular eventually stopped, a short distance from Ganon's and Rusl's. Lanaryu had been caught up in the deluge as well.

His body began to twitch, his eyes opened and he coughed water out of his lungs. Rusl's efforts had been in vain.

"Damn you Rusl!!" Lanaryu straggled to his feet. He looked around at the destruction Rusl had precipitated, all in the effort to save his family. Lanaryu remained black to the core. "I will still kill your family!! With these hands! The same hands that murdered your friends Shad, Ganon, and Ralis!!"

"**That's enough, Lanaryu.**" An all too familiar voice penetrated the serene sounds of nature. Lanaryu's blood ran cold. Had he seen his failure?

"Why, my lord… What brings you all the way out here?" Lanaryu's heart pounded.

"**I'm curious as to what happened here." **Lanaryu turned and faced his master. Dimitri was only a few feet away, easily within snatching distance with his long arms. Lanaryu took an involuntary step back. "**What's the matter, general? Do you fear me for some reason? Do you fear that I saw your little mistake up there in the village? What caused this flood?"**

"My lord…" Lanaryu stammered. Dimitri's arm shot to his throat, wrapping his claws delicately around Lanaryu's muscular neck. He only applied enough pressure to let a small trickle of blood escape from his talons pressing against his neck. "Please…"

"**It's not that it happened, for Rusl was true warrior and I commend him, it's that you stood there gloating. You allowed this to happen, and you did not accomplish your objective." **Dimitri bared his fangs in anger. He let more blood droplets etch their way down Lanaryu's chest. Dimitri stroked the length of Lanaryu's jugular vein with his thumb claw. Lanaryu's breath moved faster and faster. **"You shame yourself. I do not permit arrogance or impudence. Now what price must you pay for your actions? I think one eye will be sum enough."**

"Lord Dimitri!" Lanaryu cried, pleading with his liege. Dimitri used his other hand and stuck two claws through Lanaryu's left eye. "AUGHH!!"

Dimitri wrenched out his eye and crushed it in his hand. He smiled and let go of the screaming Lanaryu. Lanaryu continued to wail, clutching his head.

**"I permit you to continue to live, and to serve me. But I warn you. Fail again, or display anything as you previously did, and the payment will be your life." **Dimitri opened his wings and turned to face the darkened sky. **"Now let us go. We will go to the ancient city in the sky and begin the process."**


	34. Part Thirty Three

Creina arrived in Kakariko Village after a few days travel. She could feel the presence of Dimitri in the graveyard, but she took a look around the town first. People were either dead from demon attacks, or hiding in the houses, the inn, or the shaman's house. She wasn't surprised at this, but she wasn't necessarily expecting it.

"Hello?" She called as she walked through the village. She was hoping to get someone's attention, but it seemed her attempts were for naught. "Fucking villagers…"

She walked up and down the main path of the village and decided it was a fruitless venture. She made her way into the graveyard and immediately felt an overwhelmingly powerful presence. She didn't recall Dimitri's presence to feel like this, but it was coming from the same source.

"Is anyone here?" She used her words to steady herself as she looked from gravestone to gravestone. They bore ancient tongues, forgotten dialects, forsaken languages but she was able to read them all. She heard a stirring, dirt and rock being slightly displaced by subtle movement. "Dimitri?"

"Why do you implore that name?" The voice of the man she had loved echoed off the stone graves, but it carried a sense of lost purpose. He did not carry the same command to his voice. His will did not sound tempered as the warrior he had once been.

"Because that is who you are." Creina tried to find him, searching out of the corners of her eyes. She feared he would interpret anything she did as hostile. "Why are you here Dimitri? Have you forced out the demon?"

"What demon do you speak of? Who the hell are you? And why do you still call me that insufferable name?" His voice had a twinge of annoyance.

"You are not Dimitri?" Creina could not believe this. She knew that voice, slightly different or not.

"Dimitri is dead. The gravestone says so. He fell off the falls in some lake." The voice now sounded amused. "He was the kingdom of Hyrule's greatest knight in recorded history… A history of almost 5,000 years judging by the writings on these epitaphs."

"How can you read them?" Creina recalled that Dimitri could in fact read such things as she could. These things all pointed fingers to Dimitri.

"I do not know. And for that matter, I do not know you. If you wouldn't mind, please leave this place. I fear for both our safety as it is." The voice held pain in his tone now. "Leave. Now."

"Why do you want me to leave? What do you fear?" Creina began to openly look around for him. "Tell me what it is Dimitri."

"That name…" A hand grabbed Creina and another clamped over her mouth. He stood more than a foot taller than she, silver hair dangling over her, resting on her shoulders. She found that his hand had the triforce on it; the upper piece symbolizing the triforce of power had a faint glow. "Stop using that name… It causes things to flash through my mind. Violence, hurt, anger, loss, fear, yearning, curses…"

Creina could say nothing. His strength was too much. It was definitely Dimitri, but at the same time, it couldn't be.

"Your skin is so soft. And you are so beautiful." He took his hand off of her mouth and turned her around. He studied her, giving Creina opportunity to do the same to him. "What a heavenly body… Your eyes are so powerful, bearing the weight of years beyond years."

Her eyes traveled miles across his body, not tiring until she was absolutely sure he was Dimitri. His chest had the triforce over his heart, the mark he had received when she spared his life during the first 'Twili Incident.' To hear him say such things about her felt so good.

"You know me then?" He pulled his long silver locks out of his face, a gesture she recognized as one he used to do when talking to people.

"I do, but you keep insisting you're not that person." Creina felt the weight of his eyes on her, a gaze she had longed to feel on her body and soul.

"This Dimitri was a man of honor and justice, correct?" He cocked his head to one side. She nodded and he smiled. "Is that why I have the inhibitions to keep from preying on your beautiful body?"

"If you mean…" She contemplated his words. She understood what they meant, but why he said it was a mystery. She sensed no malice or ill intent in his nature. Perhaps he could read the want in her eyes for it, the way she had longed for him both physically and emotionally.

"Do not fear me. I fear for you. I did not get your name. May I ask what it is?" He bowed his head slightly in a show of courtesy.

"It's Creina… But you may know me as the Great Fairy of Hyrule…" She was hoping to jog his memory. His eyes suddenly took on a vagrant look, staring off into the fabric of time.

His body trembled slightly and he turned away slowly. She didn't understand what was going on.

"You betrayed him… You hurt him…" His words sounded hoarse. "He loved you, treasured you, protected you…"

"What are you talking about?" Creina feared the wrong memories had surfaced. How she wished she thought wrong…

"You betrayed Dimitri!" He turned and grabbed her, holding her by the throat in the air. His eyes now burned with wrath. "You were his everything and you conspired against him."

"Please, you don't understand…" She tried to explain but he cut her off.

"No. You don't understand. You hurt him, made it to where he could never love or trust anyone the same again. Why did you come here? Why do you believe… why do you hope that I'm Dimitri?" He walked her to the stone slab that wore Dimitri's epitaph. He held her against it, pinning both of her arms over her head.

"Because I made a mistake! I love him!" She screamed. She began to cry but he did not stop.

"How can you claim to love a man whom you turned against?" He ignored her tears.

"Because I was wrong! I live for him! I came back for him!" She started to hate herself, knowing all of his points were valid. "We need him! Zelda and Ashei need him! We need _you_ damn it!!"

He said nothing at this. He felt her lowering her until her feet touched the ground again. She wiped the tears from her cheeks and looked back up at him. She saw tears in his eyes as well.

"Zelda… Ashei… Why do these names bring such images…?" He sobbed. "I loved a princess… I killed thousands in her service… I made love to her… I was happy… But I grew complacent… I saw the downfall… the other… Ashei…"

"She fights for you still! They both do! All three of us do!" Creina put her hands to the sides of his face and directed his eyes into hers. "Any one of us would give our lives for you! What the hell is wrong with you Dimitri?! What happened to you?!"

"I don't know!!" Dimitri clenched his fists but kept peering through her pristine eyes. He remembered them clearly. His mind became flooded with the unearthly memories he had been denied before. The sensation was driving him mad. "Please stop! I don't want to remember!"

"Please Demi." Creina pulled him closer.

"No. Stop." Dimitri put one hand on his chest where the mark of the triforce emanated. "Please Creina… I don't want the pain… the responsibility… I never did!!"

"Demi!" Creina's eyes welled with saline fluid again. She pulled him down to her, their lips meeting. Dimitri hesitated at first, but then wound his arms around her. They savored their embrace and the way each other tasted. They calmed each other, sharing a moment like the time they had spent together before.

"Creina…" Dimitri whispered once she parted her lips from his. His legs gave out and he fell on to his back. Creina lay on the ground beside him, ignoring the hardness of the ancient soil. His eyes trained on her. "What has happened in the past week? I remember everything up until the demon completely consumed my mind…"


	35. Part Thirty Four

"Father has not returned yet. It's been days now." Colin held his little brother as Uli inventoried their handmade bunker. They felt in their heart that Rusl would not be coming back, but still held onto a slim hope. "He said after a few days and we hear no commotion, we should go outside and check."

"It's still a large risk, son." Uli sounded distraught, but with good reason. "Let us wait until the absolute latest possible."

"Yes mother…" Colin sat on the stone floor and tried to lull his brother to sleep.

From the silence, the heard footsteps above them. They came from what had once been the floor of their home, but was now their protective ceiling. Colin's eyes darted to his mother but she held a finger over her mouth indicating silence.

Uli quietly stepped toward the barricaded door that opened upward. She leaned against it and listened for anything. The footsteps persisted and they counted the number of separate pairs of them.

Uli held up three fingers to Colin. He nodded and kept his brother's attention on him lest he give them away.

"Hello?" A female voice came from the other side of the door. Uli thought she recognized it, but she couldn't chance it. "Please, if someone is there, let us know. This was Rusl's house."

Her eyes tuned to her voice and her heart sank at how she had used the word _was_. Colin shook his head at his mother, trying to strengthen her resolve.

"I doubt anyone is left Ashei." Another familiar voice spoke to the first. "This place is demolished."

"Ashei?" Uli whispered to Colin.

"No mother. We know it could be a trap…" Colin couldn't risk losing another parent to demons.

"It looks like a flood swept through here." A third, delicate voice joined in with the other two. "This is the only house left standing… or rather partially standing…"

"Let's go Midna, Zelda…" The original voice ordered. "Lets go look down here there in the valley where the water carried everything."

Uli began to move everything away from the door. Colin went to stop her but he saw the determination in her eyes. He set his brother into a make shift bed and began to help her. They cleared everything away and braced themselves. The shoved the door open with a thunderous crash as it swung into the stone.

They covered their eyes as light flooded them, blinding them temporarily. When their vision cleared, they saw Ashei, Midna, and Zelda rushing toward them with joyous expressions on their faces.

"We were afraid that you had perished with the others." Ashei was glad to find someone had survived and a friend no less. "How long have you been down there?"

"Days." Uli replied, overjoyed that they were rescued from the nightmare. Maybe even Rusl was okay… "Have you seen Rusl?"

The three women had a pretty good idea what had happened to him, but were afraid to voice their opinions. By the way her eyes fell after theirs did, they knew she had expected the same.

"We're going down into the valley a little ways down and see what all washed up down there." Zelda said looking in that direction.

"We'll go with you. I think we need to move around a little bit anyway." Uli nodded.

They walked down slope and saw where the water had settled, creating a new small lake with wreckage like driftwood floating in it. Ashei and Midna began removing their weapons and armor. Zelda would wait with Uli and Colin on dry ground while they swam in and looked for anything.

"You just wait here with them. If anything happens or springs out at you, yell for us." Ashei looked to Zelda. Ashei and Midna dove into the water and began gliding through the water.

"What do you think we'll find?" Midna said between breaths as she stroked her arms.

"I don't know. But I'm sure it won't be what we hope." Ashei replied, not having as much trouble as Midna. They moved between bodies of demons, twisted and splintered pieces of houses, and mangled bodies of villagers. "This is insane… how could that thing warrant all of this?"

"We have to kill it…" Midna spoke of the demon. "We have to avenge Dimitri and Link…"

"I know… Let's head over to that large wooden dam. I'm pretty sure someone removed Rutella's headstone and let the water wash away everything." Ashei directed. "It must have been Rusl. He's smart enough to know that would probably be the only way of doing anything effective."

"Okay…" Midna thought about the one that accepted her into the village of Ordon as Link's wife. They made it to the dam and climbed up on to the wooden base. They turned away from the water's surface and looked up the side of the dam.

"Is that…?" Ashei saw an arm hanging over a small ledge about halfway up. It was slightly tanned and had a scar of where a piece of the triforce had once been long ago. They rushed up and found the body of Ganon. "Damn it Ganon… I can only guess why you were here…"

"But why would he be here?" Midna asked. She examined his body, finding his chest ripped open and heart destroyed and spine torn out. It was gruesome and couldn't imagine what kind of monster would do that.

"He came to help Rusl… and I know it's hard to believe but there is no other explanation." Ashei couldn't look at him any more. The things he had done, especially to her, could never be forgiven no matter what the personal sacrifice for the greater good. "Don't come back you bastard…"

With that, they continued going up the structure. They rounded the last curve and found what they had hoped not to. Rusl lay flat on his back, sword in one hand, dead and broken. They went to each side of him and examined his body.

"I don't see any fatal wounds, just cuts and a few bites but that's it." Midna analyzed his body without moving him.

"His muscles are torn to shreds. His bones are all shattered into several pieces each." Ashei felt his arms and shoulders. She lifted his eyelids and saw that they were solid red from broken blood vessels. "He overexerted himself beyond any extreme I've ever seen. He pushed himself to death."

"Gods above…" Midna said under her breath as she saw this.

"But he saved Uli and his sons… I guess that's all that mattered to him." Ashei diagnosed. "You were one of the greatest men I've ever met, Rusl. I hope your sons grow up to be just like you. You gave them more than they could have ever achieved…"

"Rest in piece, Rusl." Midna bowed her head and closed her eyes. Ashei picked up his body and took him with them back down to the water. Midna picked up Ganon and they stood at the edge of the wooden planks over the water.

"You served Hyrule, Ganon. And you served your family, Rusl. May you never have to return to this world and have to face death again." They set the two warriors into the water and watched them sink into the dark depths of the new lake, which would later be named Lake Ordon for the village once standing above it.

Ashei's words rang true and Hyrule would recognize these two along with the warriors already fallen: Link, Ralis, Azaan, Shad, and Auru as true heroes of their land. Her words also carried a sense of foreshadowing, stating that they would not return to life to die again. Now the fate of Hyrule, no, every realm and being in existence rested on the minds and bodies of the four that remained: Ashei, Midna, Zelda, and Creina.

Ashei became lost in thought as she lost sight of the two fallen heroes in the darkness of the water. She remembered Dimitri's words. She must free his body and cleanse his name. She thought of how many died in this crusade… Her friends, her enemies turned allies, and her world… When Dimitri had died, her world had come crashing down.

Ashei felt tears coming and tried to force them away as she kept staring into the depths. She had attacked him when they had first met. She had hated him for what he spoke, what he did, how he reacted to people. But she realized how similar they were. She had given her life for him years ago so that he could travel to the Twilit Realm and battle Ralis in the first 'Twili Incident.'

That was when she had realized she loved him, that she wanted him to love her and treasure her. She realized that he was perfect in every way. But at the time, he served and loved the Great Fairy. She then manipulated Dimitri and herself to try and achieve her dark agenda of destroying Hyrule. Dimitri ended up killing her.

Then Dimitri took her as his lover. They shared everything between them, secrets, thoughts, feelings, their bodies and minds. She remembered how he would hold her as they lay naked under their blankets in front of the fireplace of their manor while blizzards raged. He would whisper things in her ear, comforting her, telling her sweet little nothings that showed his unbounded love for her.

She helped him wrestle with the thoughts and nightmares that plagued him day after day and night after night. She took them all away for him. She was his escape from his haunting. He would lie on his back and tell her all of his thoughts, memories, and she would kiss his neck and rest her head between his neck and shoulder.

"Ashei?" Midna snapped her back to awareness. Midna wore a concerned expression that belied her determination to keep trekking toward their objective. Ashei looked at her companion with a façade that she had fashioned her whole life that had never been seen through except for by Dimitri. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." She said with a stern nod. "Let's go back and find a place for Uli, Colin, and the baby."

"Okay." Midna could slightly feel the inner turmoil within Ashei as they dove back into the water.


	36. Part Thirty Five

"Why do you cut my teeth so?" Lanaryu kneeled in front of the demon as he sat upon a throne comprised of the skeletons of humans, Zoras, Gorons, and demons alike. The collar around Lanaryu's throat was tightened, digging into his flesh. His now empty eye socket ached from his punishment.

**"Because you have slipped in your endeavor in Ordon, and I suspect you plot behind my back." **Dimitri flexed his claws on his right hand and smiled.

"My lord, why would you suspect something like that?" Lanaryu felt the same dread as before when he mentioned this. How was he getting this feeling? His plan would never be known until it was too late.

**"Because we have always been enemies, general. You have always stood between me and my goals. You were there 5,000 years ago, and I believe you will stand before me during this time as well. Figuring out when and how are only a matter of time." **Dimitri stood from his throne of bones and looked out over his dominion. He saw the entire land of Hyrule, though it was quite a ways down.

They had come to the ancient Oocca city in the sky, named Occan for a ruler of the small bulbous headed bird people thousands of years ago. Dimitri would use it to spread his reign and join the realms in the sky above. It was ingenious, Lanaryu had to admit. No one could really get here without being able to teleport.

"But my lord, I only wish to ride your coattails to a position of power." Lanaryu gave a smile that would have convinced anyone else. The demon returned the smile when he looked over at his right hand man.

**"There will be plenty of them for you to choose from, my wise general." **Dimitri chose to buy into it for now but keep an eye on him as he had been wise to do in the first place. He returned his attention to looking over the kingdom. He could feel the presence of the one he craved constantly. She was down there in Ordon, along with a couple others.

But something else struck him as odd. He felt Creina in Kakariko. Why would they be separated? He could feel something else with her, but it wasn't anything alive. Possibly a spirit? He did not know but he knew it would do no good for them.

**"Lanaryu, I want you to prove your loyalty to me and bring me Ashei. Alive." **Dimitri could imagine the things he would do to her, his mind caught up in fantasies of the flesh that was enhanced vividly from the memories he had absorbed from the original Dimitri. **"Once you have brought her to me, I will begin the process. You have one day. If you have not returned with her alive, you will die. The collar will ensure it."**

"Yes my lord…" Lanaryu acknowledged after swallowing nervously. He turned from his liege and disappeared.

**"Come to me, Ashei…" **The demon licked his lips. His mind scanned his library of stolen memories. He recalled a time when they had missed Link's birthday to make love to each other. He could feel her teeth in his neck as if he had been the one there. Her nails in his back, the way she tasted, the way she felt, everything as if he were there. **"The sins of the flesh are among the things I came back for. I've hungered for generations, craving a woman like you Ashei. You will become my queen and rule with me."**

He looked himself over and checked his armor. His armor was black and sucked in all light. Satisfied, he sat back in his throne and kept reliving Dimitri's memories.

**"You will see, Hyrule. All of you will see."**


	37. Part Thirty Six

Creina stood outside in the rain that had started minutes ago. She looked up into the sky and let the water wash over her. Her mind reeled with the fact that Dimitri lived again.

Dimitri watched her from under an awning that stretched from the inn on Kakariko's main path. He saw that she seemed happier, even with everything that was going on. He felt pain remembering that his brother Link was now dead, along with many of their friends and allies. His hand still bore the triforce of power on the back of it.

Even he didn't know how he had escaped from the demon's grasp. He did not try to ponder the circumstances but instead tried to think of ways to retaliate. His mind went back to Creina as he noticed her eyes had focused on him. She was soaked from the rain and didn't seem to care. He had to tear his eyes away from her, seeing her every curve exposed due to her clothes being drenched.

"You should come out here and enjoy the rain. I haven't enjoyed it in years… In fact, the last time I did was with you Demi…" She still looked at him, water falling on her. "That time when it actually rained in the desert…"

"Stop Creina…" He wouldn't look back at her. His heart belonged to Ashei and he would keep it that way.

"I know what you're thinking Dimitri." Creina could sense his hesitation. "I told you before… I know your heart belongs to Ashei now. But she's not the only one that cares about you. There's me and Zelda as well. Our hearts all belong to you… But we are not lucky like she is…"

"I said stop…" Dimitri felt stirrings within him, feeling her words as if they had been spoken by the woman he had loved five years ago. "Stay out of my head!"

"Demi…" She saw the pain and indecision she was causing him. She felt a sadness that she was still hurting him with her presence even after everything had happened and time had passed. She couldn't stand him being in pain of any kind.

"No Creina…" Dimitri turned his back on her and went into the inn and slammed the door.

"What am I doing wrong?" Creina felt more sadness at his rejection of even talking to her. She knew she didn't deserve forgiveness from him. She had done so many things, even being foolish enough to try and seduce the demon within him days before. It had cost her gravely, almost killing her, but it opened her eyes. She felt those dark feelings creep back into her mind.

She pushed them back and thought of Ashei, how he served her loyally. She had to watch Dimitri go to her after being betrayed… and it had hurt, but she had been blinded. She knew that she was not instrumental to the defeat of the demon and that she wasn't needed.

That's what she felt it came down to. She wanted to feel needed, loved, and important. Her jealousy started to rear its ugly head. She had him here with her, and Ashei wasn't here. She could take this chance…

"No." She spoke out loud. She looked up and down the deserted road. She gathered herself and went into the inn Dimitri had entered. The fire was lit and the place was warm. She didn't see Dimitri anywhere so she went upstairs. She left water puddles where she stepped due to the rain that dripped off of her.

She arrived on the second level and checked each room. She found nothing until she reached the last room in the hall. She pushed the door open and found Dimitri staring out the window. She stepped in and closed the door.

"Please go, Creina. I shouldn't have been found." Dimitri didn't stop studying whatever was outside.

"No." She stood her ground and waited.

"I will not say it again." His voice gained an angry tone.

"And I would not have done it anyway so I think you were wise for not wasting your breath." Creina had battled with him verbally on several occasions, but only for fun before.

"Listen to me. I said I don't want you here." Dimitri gave in and turned around. He saw her slightly masked by shadows, but then she stepped forward into the light given off by the window. He saw her beauty once more, her long turquoise hair dripping water. "Please…"

"I can't Demi… I love you." She felt genuine love for this man, just as she had before she gave in to the dark thoughts years ago. She walked closer.

"Creina. My heart is not yours." Dimitri stopped her and held her away with his hands on her shoulders. She was just as beautiful as when he loved her. He couldn't let anything resurface. Those feelings needed to be suppressed. He looked at her again, seeing her body through her clothes. He was but a man… "Who am I kidding…? My feelings are such a tangled mess…"

He said nothing more and pushed Creina back on to the bed. She looked up at him with acceptance of his actions and she removed her tunic, revealing her perfectly sculpted body. Her eyes begged for him and he would not disappoint her. He slung his cloak across the room and leaned over her.

"Take me Demi…" Creina touched his face and then ran her hand down his muscular shoulders. She yearned for this. To have Dimitri make love to her like he had when he was hers. "I love you and I want you to do what makes you feel happy, feel good. Do what you want. That's what I'm here for."

"Creina…" Dimitri felt lust and old feelings begin to course through his mind. He admired her body and remembered it well. "Are you trying to use me?"

"No, I want you to use me…" Creina wanted him to be hers in any way possible. If she couldn't have his heart, she would settle for his body.

"I can't use you, Creina." Dimitri started to back away but Creina grabbed his wrists and pulled him back.

"Demi, just let the feelings out. I know you have them. The lust, the carnivorous animal that you became in the act of passion…" Creina smiled and placed his hands on her sides. He got closer again and she sat up. His powerful arms pulled her closer and he pressed his lips against hers, finally giving in. When they separated again, Creina lay back and looked up at him. "Now ravage me like I know you want to and I know you can."

"As you wish…" Dimitri lost himself to the lustful desires and lay on top of her. He held her wrists down above her head and kissed her neck.

Creina cherished every kiss he placed on her body, on her neck, on her lips. She didn't even try to free herself from his grip, she knew it was useless to struggle against him and why would she? She wanted every bit of it. Dimitri became the animal that he was known to be in bed by all of his lovers.

She felt him inside her, the intimate movements and pleasurable motions. She remembered to the day the last time they had done this. He kept going deeper, her voice letting out a pleased whimper every time she felt him move. She knew that this could last for several hours but that's exactly what she wanted. Dimitri was never a disappointment, especially in this area.

"Demi… Demi…" She let out as the pleasure mounted inside her. Time seemed to stand still as he made love to her, enjoying each other's bodies. They went for hours and Dimitri never seemed to tire. "Oh Demi…"

She reached her peak several times, letting Dimitri know with a cry of satisfaction and her body rocked slightly. She felt every twitch, every breath he took. It was moments like this that she held most dear. He was hers, if not for only these few hours. She could feel that his time was coming, his breath growing heavy and his movements faster.

With a couple more thrusts, he met his needs and his lips met hers in a long, passionate kiss. She felt him withdraw from her and then lay beside her. She turned on her side and they looked at each other for several minutes.

"I've missed you…" Creina kissed his forehead. He gave a light hearted smile. He seemed blissful, as if this was all that he had needed his whole life.

"And I've missed you, Creina." Dimitri pulled a blanket up over their unclothed bodies. They cuddled together, prolonging their physical contact. After their whirlwind of lust and sensuality, Dimitri's inhibitions finally started to come back. "I'm afraid that I've done wrong again…"

"You haven't done anything wrong, Demi." Creina knew what he was feeling. She was willing to be his little affair, every now and then as long as she could claim him some time… "No one has to know what we've done."

"I'm afraid that will be the case. It'll just be another thing to haunt me…" Dimitri said quietly, his lips moving against her chest. "I wouldn't be able to bring myself to tell."

"It's okay Demi. I won't tell. No one will know." Creina smiled and ran her fingers threw his long silver hair as he kissed her body, moving across her chess and down her abdomen. "Use me however you want to and when you want to… Just use me."

"Okay… Thank you Creina." He nestled against her and soon fell asleep.

"Sweet dreams Demi." Creina felt happy for the first time in a long time. She had forced her way back into his heart. She regretted that this was the way she had to get him to love her again, but damn it she would do anything necessary! She forgot about all of the calamity that had surrounded her when she had arrived here and fell asleep in Dimitri's arms.


	38. Part Thirty Seven

Ashei, Midna, and Zelda had taken Uli and her sons to Link and Midna's home in the woods north of Ordon. They made sure they had plenty of supplies and means to defend themselves in case of emergency. Once they had seen to this, they began to journey to Kakariko so that they could find out what progress Creina made in looking in to the other Dimitri presence. Little did she know what was truly occurring there.

They entered the province of Faron and looked out over the small plain containing a large gorge with a bridge over it. They could see hundreds of demons flocking across the meadows. They would have to fight their way across.

"Well, we'll run through them as far as we can go and then we'll resort to fighting our way through." Ashei set the plan. They all double checked their weapons and made sure to drop any excess weight. Ashei thought of Zelda's wings and her ability to fly short distances. "Zelda, I want you to run with us as far as possible and then once we start to be overrun, fly as far as possible or until you can reach Kakariko Village."

"But Ashei," Zelda started to protest but Ashei raised her hand.

"Don't argue with me, Zelda. I don't want you to be involved in any of this but that's too late. I want you to stay out of as much as possible. We will need you later." Ashei explained. "Midna, make sure you're ready for this."

"You know I'm ready." She had Ganon's sword in one hand and the blue saber that had been used to seal Ganon the first time in the other.

"Then let's go." Ashei took off from their uphill point and charged across the plain with Midna and Zelda following close behind. She held Dimitri's golden blade made of the master sword and his two claymores in her right hand.

The demons responded with vigor and tenacity, running straight at them without any hesitation. Ashei and Midna moved in front of Zelda and readied their swords. They reached the edge of the bridge before they had become completely surrounded.

"Go now!" Midna yelled to Zelda and she hesitated before spreading her wings and vanishing from sight.

"Let's do this you bastards!!" Ashei brought her golden sword down into the skull of the closest demon. The fight stalled on the bridge, neither side gaining ground. Ashei and Midna stood back to back on the bridge, forcing the demons into a bottleneck as they tried to attack. Wave after wave flooded them but a storm of swings and strikes repelled each offensive.

After about ten minutes of sporadic fighting, the demons became more numerous and more ferocious. They did not cease, their appetite for human meat voracious. They found themselves fatigued and strained after thirty minutes had passed.

"Ashei…" Midna felt herself faltering as Ashei fought at her back, attempting to defend her. She knew Ashei would have more strength and energy long after she would be fully depleted.

"Just hold on Midna!" Ashei crushed four attackers with one swing. She kept them at bay while helping Midna to put her back to the side of the bridge. She defended her comrade while she tried to regain some stamina and energy. The demons grew more powerful now, taking more to defeat as time wore on. Ashei found herself just barely keeping them away from Midna.

"Have you had enough?" A familiar voice beckoned from above her. When this voice spoke, the onslaught stopped abruptly. She panted from exhaustion and fatigue, her sword drooping until the point rested on the ground. "You merely have to surrender to stop the onslaught. We will not harm either of you."

"Not you again…" Ashei looked up and saw Lanaryu observing the chaos. She noted that his left eye socket was empty and scarred over. She also saw that his collar was digging deeper into his flesh. Dimitri had punished him for his debacle at Ordon. "What the hell do you want?"

"My lord, or rather _our _lord requests your presence Ashei." Lanaryu grit his teeth. He emphasized that Dimitri held dominion over all, not just him. "He told me that your life must be preserved and I can not return without you."

"Well then I guess you'll live the rest of your life in exile. I won't go." Ashei shook a tired fist toward him.

"Please. Like you have a choice. You're so weak right now that you would easily succumb to any attempt to take you. I've already told you that you will be unharmed, along with Midna, and Zelda, if she decides to return." Lanaryu looked in the direction of Kakariko Village. "Now, please do not make this any harder than it is."

"Kiss my ass." Ashei swung at the nearest demon but it simply dodged, letting her overexert herself.

"Damn it Ashei!" Midna said from her position against the bridge. Her eyes were glazed over and she had demon blood on her. "Just cooperate. It'll get us closer to the demon…"

"But we can't put him at any more advantage than he already is." She dropped her sword and looked back at her companion.

"It's better than dying here. Under foot of these ravenous demons. Let's take the fight to him." Midna smiled and pushed herself to her feet. She sheathed the swords she carried and staggered closer to Ashei. "Let's just go."

"But what about Zelda? We need her for the final battle. All three of us must be there." Ashei spoke in hushed tones. Her eyes darted from Midna, to the demons, then to Lanaryu and back.

"You know she'll be there when we need her. She's the Great Fairy, remember?" Midna tried to assure Ashei.

"Fine…" Ashei picked her sword up and sheathed it. She looked up at Lanaryu and shrugged. "Your move."

"Wise decision." Lanaryu snapped his fingers and they were teleported from the bridge. Their eyes were assaulted by darkness but then in a fraction of a second, the sun shone brightly overhead. Wind assailed them as they rematerialized. The two women warriors looked around and found the sun closer to them.

"Welcome to the ancient city of Occan." Lanaryu motioned with his arm to draw their attention to their new location.

"The city in the sky." Ashei knew of this sacred place of the Oocca people, now fully extinct due to Dimitri's actions during the first 'Twili Incident.'

The place was a hovering slab of stone and technological innovation created thousands of years ago. It was created by the Oocca a few years after the Demon had originally been defeated. The Oocca had been forced to surrender to the demon in those times and serve him. They created this city to escape the possible resurrection or resurfacing of the Demon. They separated from Hylians, Gorons, Zoras, Yetis, Gerudo, and the Twili in an attempt to fake the fall of a technologically superior civilization, lest their resources be once again harvested by the likes of the Demon.

Little did they, or anyone else but the Demon himself, know that this marvel of innovative design carried a role in the Demon's new reign. The skies above Hyrule would soon burn in demonic fire and bring the Sacred and Twili realms into view.

The floating city of Occan would be Dimitri's vantage point and altar to unite the realms again as the ancient prophesies foretold. Everything was unraveling as the monolithic headstone warned.

"Where is he?" Ashei blinked away the stress and moved to Lanaryu.

**"I am here, dearest Ashei. Look no more, for we have both found what we have been looking for." **Dimitri's unmistakable voice rumbled with the new edge of evil seeping into it. She turned and saw him toward the edge of the city, sitting atop a throne made of bones.

His transformation had been completed. He still bore Dimitri's face and features, but his teeth had grown to fangs, his eyes now feral and crimson, massive jet black wings folded against his back, his long silver hair now longer than he was tall. His face and chest bore inscriptions etched into the skin. His body had natural armor and his hands were now claws.

She could not believe what he had truly become now that she saw him with her own eyes so close. She knew it was once the man she loved and lived for. But no more. He was gone. This city of Occan would be this demon's resting place.

"Indeed." Ashei moved to him, never removing her eyes from his.

**"I remember those eyes. Very well. Eyes you could drown yourself and your thoughts in, forgetting all your troubles. Dimitri's memories are mine. I am Dimitri, or rather, the true Dimitri. I've slumbered within him, fully aware of everything he did or thought." **The Demon smiled as Ashei was now only a few feet from his throne. Her face wore a look of disgust and contempt. **"That is an appropriate reaction. You will learn though. I have decided to make you my queen, Ashei. A position most fitting for a woman of your power, intelligence, beauty. Everything is now yours for the taking."**

"But I do not wish such a thing." Ashei slowly and deliberately drew her sword. "I desire the safety of Hyrule. Do not delude yourself that you are the true Dimitri. Dimitri is so much beyond anything you could ever be."

**"You try too hard to preserve the image of a fool and a weakling. The only thing that he ever did correctly was choose a woman like you. I remember when he abandoned Hyrule those years ago when he served Zelda. The coward. But time would betray him, forcing him to return and save this land that he hated. They label Ganon, Ralis, and the former Great Fairy as traitors of their kind, but Dimitri was the ultimate treasoner." **The demon stood from his sitting position and grabbed Ashei by her throat. He carried her that way with one arm and dangled her over the edge of the stone foundation. Midna tried to go to her rescue but Lanaryu held her subdued. **"Time will be rewritten, and I will carve it into the souls of all those that bear witness to me and my domain. I give you opportunity to see Dimitri for what he really is. He is the true destructor of Hyrule. You harbored the greatest threat to all creation. You fostered his ambitions. He had the façade of a humble, subservient warrior, but he was the one the Gods sent to destroy you all!!"**

"Shut up!" Ashei fought through all of the words and their meanings. This Demon was only trying to tarnish him, to convert her to his control. She struggled against his grip, but she knew it was no use. "Shut the hell up! You don't have any idea what you're talking about!"

**"Don't I? I've always been there! I've been in his awareness, waiting for my chance to return and subvert Dimitri's true intentions. The realms must be rejoined, for that was what Dimitri was trying to prevent. You may think I'm just trying to confuse you, but my words ring with the truth delivered directly from the essence of the Triforce! The holy triad! The triad that must incorporate the most destructive power, the wisest sage, and the one with the courage when the time comes to kill the others and themselves to preserve life as we know it!" **The demon in Dimitri's body spoke with audacity. Ashei stopped struggling and absorbed his words. **"Don't you understand? Life must be tested by the Gods to ensure that it deserves to continue. You may think that I am that test, but I assure you that I am not. I am merely the means of carrying out the test. You bear the Triforce of Wisdom, and Dimitri is the bearer of the Triforce of power. Zelda now bears the triforce of courage. This triad is the test! At one time, life was tested through Ganon, Link, and Zelda. But Link could not kill them and himself. Link caused the tragic flaw of this existence!"**

"Stop it!" Midna cried from several yards away. Lanaryu held her against the ground, but these words were sinking into his mind as well. This was unbelievable! Surely this was all just one big farce!

**"He forced the Gods to bring an even more powerful entity back, his own brother! The one who carried me! Din, Farore, Nayru, the Goddesses of the Triforce forgot something when they put the triforce in the hands of mortals. They call it the triforce, but there were four pieces!!" **The demon raised his free hand, which was his left hand, and showed Ashei. Where the triforce was etched into his hand, the top signifying power wasn't lit, but instead the middle place between the three triangles was lit with white, not golden, light.

"Impossible." Ashei felt all feeling leave her. Everything that time had taught had been wrong. Then what Creina knew was…

**"I am not the actual Demon!! Only one being alive knows this. And her plans are nearly carried out!!" **The Demon cried, not moving his hand, the white light bathing Ashei. **"5,000 years ago, I inhabited this body and was the supreme ruler of the three realms, but then the true Demon appeared. He had silver hair, was heavily scarred, and wielded twin Claymores. Dimitri is the scourge of reality. He consumed me in his conquest of the tri-realm… I was the husband of the Great Fairy…"**

"This has got to be some sick fantasy you've concocted to try and confound us." Ashei began to struggle again. Her mind was filled with uncertainty. She couldn't believe any of this. She couldn't believe that her Dimitri was really a demon. It was all lies!

**"I have no reason to lie to you anymore. I've preserved the image of me being the demon, but it's time you all knew the truth." **He brought Ashei back onto the stone.

"Why did you destroy Hyrule Castle? Why have so many died?" Ashei rubbed her throat where his claw had been.

**"Because that was not me when the castle was destroyed. Dimitri did not leave me until just recently. I do not know where he went, but I can guarantee you that wherever he is, Creina will be there, carrying out her own plans. Curse that once lover of mine…" **He hung his head. **"I have shouldered the blame for Dimitri for thousands of years, hoping to keep all of this from running rampant again."**

"You mean… you're Hiral…" Lanaryu spoke up. "You're the man that waged the war against the Demon but was slain during the liberation of the Sacred Precincts!"

"Do what?" Ashei and Midna stood up and looked at Lanaryu.

"Hiral was the Emperor of the tri-realm. Hyrule is named for him. He recruited me as a general back when I was human… The silver haired demon laid siege to the Sacred Precincts and captured them with Faron and Eldin inside. He led the crusade to rescue them." Lanaryu recounted the past, 5,000 years ago. "I was his lieutenant and followed him into battle. Hiral faced the Demon… he faced Dimitri in a last stand to liberate the precincts. He lost his life, but wounded the demon so bad that he had to withdraw and hide for days. We took back the Sacred Precincts that currently reside in the Sacred Realm but at the expense of our greatest warrior."

"You mean… Dimitri really is…" Ashei was being assaulted mentally and emotionally.

"I'm afraid so…" Hiral nodded solemnly.

"Gods above…" Ashei passed out from the shock and previous battle fatigue.


End file.
